The Second Story
by savonta
Summary: Aelius, Laure, Hayden and Tuilen. Members of the Atlas Internal Affairs unit, they are tasked with rooting out corruption and weakness in the military and government. They soon realise that their newest mission will bring back painful memories, and test their character as Huntsmen. If one fairy tale is true, how many others find their place in history rather than fiction?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So I don't want to make too many of these, but I felt that I had to in order to relay some history behind this story and why it might feel like it veers in a different direction in a couple of chapters.

Originally, I started this a year ago, with a different title (which I have since removed) I decided to revisit the idea because of new inspirations. However in that year since I originally started and posted the first two chapters I have developed the concepts a little more, which means that the original enemy which I envisioned (the white fang) have since changed to a different group.

I also don't know everything about RWBY, nor will I pretend to, and the story deals a decent amount with dust which I feel hasn't been explained the best. That being said, if I do get something wrong or it feels too unnatural to be believable, feel free to let me know. So, with all of that out of the way, please enjoy what I have written, the next few parts are still going through editing, so they might be up soon depending on how my schedule goes.

"

"

"

Hayden kept an eye on the thug. He often placed himself amongst crowds of people to make sure he was out of sight, though he wasn't really too inconspicuous with his wild, red hair. An impatience had built within him over the three days that he had tailed the thug which had started to become too hard to ignore.

His team had been had been hopeful that he would meet up with the contact that had supplied his group with military hardware at some point, but unfortunately the thug appeared to have caught on to Hayden's operation and had only acted like an upstanding citizen since, albeit one that hung around in shady bars and met with known criminals.

Hayden grinned as he saw that the thug had finally reached his breaking point. The man suddenly disappeared into an alley, a toppled, disgruntled woman the only evience that he had left behind. The red-haired Huntsman shook his head and tapped on his earpiece. The communication line opened and alerted the rest of his team.

"Tuilen, he's heading towards you," Hayden sighed. "Honestly, I was kind of hoping that he'd have more spine and confront me, rather than just running away." All four of his squad had split up in each of the directions to make sure that they would be able to intercept and follow the thug no matter where he ran.

"Good, close in on his location, make sure you don't lose track of him and let him slip past you, I don't want to have to find another target," Aelius told them. The thug continued his mad dash, and only cast the occasional glance behind to check if he had lost the Huntsman. He only looked back twice before another figure in a neat, Atlesian officer's uniform dropped down in front of him and sunk his fist into the man's chest. Needless to say, the thug fell down to the ground and wheezed in pain.

The newcomer appeared to be Hayden's complete opposite in every regard. Whereas Hayden was tanned and wore light clothing that completely disregarded the strict guidelines, his own uniform was pristine and showed very little of his pale skin. Contrary to Hayden's fiery hair, both in nature and colour, his was black with blue highlights, straightened and combed as if he was going to a formal occasion. At the same time, it was clear that they were twins.

The two both had tubes of dust that extended from their pauldrons and circled around their arms, down to their hands. Hayden's on his right and Tuilen's on his left. However, it was the face that hammered in the fact. When the two faced each other, it looked like the reflections of a mirror. Though it could be said that the warped metaphorical mirror showed their fears back at them.

Tuilen pulled what looked to be a compacted flamethrower from his back and flourished it to extend the weapon out into a voulge; a polearm with the blade's side bound to the pole, rather than fixed by a socket to the tip. He placed the dull end of the weapon against the thug's chest and pinned him down with it.

The thug groaned as he grabbed at the air like a turtle on his back. After a few moments, he recovered enough to realise what had happened and made a half-hearted attempt to get back up which was greeted with a swift crack as Tuilen brought the base of the voulge down on the man's hand, who fell back down and winced as his back hit the pavement.

"Careful, we need him to be able to talk," Hayden called out as he approached from where the thug had appeared from. The man looked up at the both of them and blinked in surprise before giggling and murmured something about seeing double, then fell into a stupour. "And there we go, Aelius won't be too happy about this one."

"You're one to talk," Tuilen retorted. "Aren't you the one who almost roasted the last one alive?" Hayden gave him a look that could almost be called offended, if it weren't so blatantly fake. Though he quickly grinned again and looked down at the thug, amused by the quiet ramblings.

"Well I stopped once he ran out of aura," Hayden shrugged. "Besides, what's the point of interrogating someone if they've still got their aura anyway? If there's no threat of damage, they won't be scared." Tuilen was about to make his own response, but another voice cut him off.

"We have ways of getting past that particular problem," it replied. Aelius rounded the corner, his hands in his uniform pockets. The clothes that they all wore were identical in nature, not that much of a surprise for a uniform. What was interesting about it was the heavy, dark clothes that they wore.

Steel plates were stitched into their coats on the shoulders and down the backs while their thick, leather shirts and pants protected their chests while still letting them move around with Huntsman's usual inhuman capacity. Naturally each member of the team had their own variations on the uniform.

Hayden was covered in them. A lip ring was concealed beneath a cloth mask, though the chain that led to his earring made it obvious what was underneath. What parts of his apparel hadn't been burnt was torn, and the remained had been defaced with names and references to pop culture. In a sense, he wore his heart on his sleeve. More steel plates had been added across his armour, which included the pauldron from which the dust reserves for his weapon had been concealed underneath.

Tuilen on the other hand hadn't touched the uniform itself. He wore armour similar to Hayden, but the only memorabilia that could be seen on him was the chain that he always wore around his neck that held their family's symbol.

Aelius had gone in the opposite direction. A lot of the plates on his armour had been stripped away to allow for easier movement. A harness hung from his back where it looked like a weapon sheath might have once been attached.

The last member of their team, Laure, had decorated a lot of her uniform with her own family's heraldry, the brown and green highlighting the Atlesian colours as well. She also wore a bracelet which never left her wrist. On it was a locket that, despite however much the twins quizzed her on it, she never spoke a word about. Whenever the topic came up, she always diverted it away from the charm. She kept a hood that had been sewn into her uniform over her head. Faunus were not the best received in Atlas, so to hide her mouse ears was a safe move.

"Yeah, and that method has a name," Laure called out as she dropped down from her own direction. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the thug critically, then looked over to Tuilen, who purposefully avoided her eyes.

"I never said that you didn't," Aelius replied defensively and held up his hands to show he didn't mean anything by it. The two of them had been paired during their own test before the squad had been formed, and naturally the strongest bonds they had were between them. "Though that being said, I suppose we don't really have names at the moment, do we, Habein?"

He referred to their codenames that were to be used while they were on missions as part of the internal affairs investigation unit of atlas. Their current assignment was to find who was leaking experimental weapons from a secure sight to the thugs in this city. The last few suspects that they had interrogated were dead ends, but this one in particular had been associated with such dealings in the past, and so they held out hope.

"Several counts of arms trafficking, bribery, armed robbery, remind me why we didn't go after this guy first?" Tuilen asked as he read off the man's rap sheet from his scroll. Hayden rolled his eyes at his brother's show of properness.

"Well I suppose that would be because you were the one that lost his hard copy file."

"Because you took it and used it as a placemat!"

"Both of you, calm down," Aelius interrupted. His usual neutral demeanour slipped for a moment. The two silenced their bickering in an instant. Aelius walked forwards, pulled the thug up from the ground and shook him out of his reverie. "I heard that my name had been mentioned by one of my fellows here before I arrived, you should know what that means."

"Wait, that was your real name?" the thug quailed as he started to feel true terror stab into his heart. The identities of the internal affairs agents were an extremely well-guarded secret, something that was not helped by the distinctive characteristics that each of them possessed. However, so long as a name was not linked to a face, they were allowed some discretion, but if they reported that their identities had been compromised then action would be required to take place in order to regain the security of their anonymity.

They were a separate entity from the Special Operatives unit, meant to act outside of the chain of command in order to ensure that the laws and ideals of the Atlas way of life were upheld by whomever might fall under scrutiny. This caused a lot of friction between their own unit and any that might fear falling under investigation. Others that had not been as careful to guard their personal lives often found them under attack from unknown sources.

"Good, so please do be kind and co-operate with us," Aelius smiled, the expression sickeningly insincere. The thug had heard of whole cartels being completely burnt to the ground and exterminated just to prevent a sketch of an agent's identity from being spread. "All we need to know is where you got those weapons from, and then we will disappear. You will never hear of us again, or at least I hope so. I'll be honest, you can never really tell with this volatile life of crime."

"Fine, just don't get me in any deeper trouble than this, the I.A is one thing, but my boss would skin me if I brought them to his doorstep," the thug whimpered. "It's Verdent, from the research centres to the South of Atlas." Aelius nodded slowly and dropped him back onto the ground. He gestured for the rest of his squad to follow him as he walked away.

"Did that name mean anything to you?" Laure asked quietly once they were out of sight of the thug, to which Aelius shook his head, as a shadow of a scowl danced across his face.

"I'm not sure, but I'm not too eager to go to the R and D base," he muttered. Before he even realised it, his lip had started to curl in anger. He took a breath to calm himself and cracked his knuckles. "I'm going to head down to talk to the major in charge of it and find out about any Verdents that might be operating there, who knows they might be stupid enough to use their real name. In any case, we can't make any mistakes, if they start getting more experimental prototypes than the mechs that went missing before, it's on us."

"Well maybe they should have had better security before we were needed," Hayden growled. Originally a Valesian, he, like many others caught out of their own country, felt no small amount of resentment for what happened to Beacon. "Our country was the one that was hurt in that incident, and they can't even stop more of their damn weapons getting out!"

"That's because we're the ones who are supposed to stop them," Tuilen retorted as he cuffed him over the back of the head. He looked over at Aelius and gestured back at the alley where they had left the thug. "I'll keep following him and stay out of sight this time, make sure that he's not going to continue his dealings."

"Good, if he does, contact us so that we can back you up," Aelius told Tuilen as the twin nodded and rapidly scaled a building to follow more carefully than before. "Hayden, we're off to the base, I need to talk to that major and I would feel a lot better talking to him with backup."

"Well I see that I'm in high demand," Laure stated sarcastically. Her arch tone sent shivers down Aelius' spine, and the officer held up his hands defensively.

"Hey, go easy on me alright? I need you to back us up in case whoever this Verdent is tries to attack us," Aelius reasoned with her, as she crossed her arms dubiously. Her eyes were narrowed as she considered his words, it didn't seem like she was impressed.

"So as per usual I'm going to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with my scope trained on your backs," she said. She paused for a moment, then a sly smile began to spread across her face as she looked over at Aeilus and Hayden. "Actually, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea after all."

"Wait, are you sure that I shouldn't be following the guy instead?" Hayden asked suddenly. His question drew the attention of everyone, but his motive was betrayed by his glance at the compacted rifle that was slung across Laure's back. When he was only met with silence, he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I don't think I'm entirely too comfortable with this."


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, this looks like no one could ever break in here," Hayden commented sarcastically. The two of them approached the fence of the research compound. Aside from the front gate, there looked to be no additional security, or even a patrol that walked the perimeter. They had been discussing how Verdant might have smuggled the weapons out of the compound for the better part of an hour.

"Alright, let's see you do that when you're trying to move several crates at once," the leader retorted. Hayden paused and looked down at his gear, then back at the wall. As soon as he opened his mouth to reply, Aelius quickly cut him off. "No, you're not going to try it. Now, I need you to look intimidating, I don't want to be slowed down by these guys at the front gate."

Hayden gave an evil grin as they approached the gate. It wasn't often that he got to push around soldiers. Despite his attitude, he was quite good at sourcing information, Tuilen or Laure were usually the ones that accompanied Aelius. As they walked up to the soldiers that quickly barred their way, Aelius swiftly showed his identification. He barely paid attention to them and looked past to the base inside. The soldier on guard scowled at him and began to make a great deal of effort to check through form and paperwork in an effort to delay them as much as possible, that was until he caught Hayden's furious glare.

"Go ahead," the soldier muttered. He casted his gaze down to avoid looking back at the fiery haired agent and stepped aside for them. Aelius glanced back to see the soldier talk rapidly into his radio. He was obviously warning his comrades inside the base if there were any less than legal activities occurring that might cause them trouble. Mostly it would just be out of regulation gambling, but in this case, he didn't know how many accomplices could be involved in this weapons trading.

In front of them lay the research centre. It was a stark complex, It was only a few stories high, with stairs that lead up to the front entrance. This was only the administration centre, where all of the reports were written and meetings were held. The real interesting areas were buried underground in secure facilities.

"Laure, do you have eyes on the compound?" Aelius asked her. He glanced around to see if there were any signs of soldiers hurrying to cover up their activities. People watched from the windows suspiciously. They were probably trying to figure out whether they were the ones that had come under investigation.

"Yeah, you really sent them into a scare," she chuckled in reply. She was set up on the roof of a building nearby with a clear view over the whole area. "I bet none of them have even done anything, probably terrified that you might court martial them for not tucking in their bunks properly."

"Now that's an entertaining thought," Aelius smiled. Hayden looked over at a couple of the soldiers, who avoided his gaze and hurried along on their patrol once they felt his eyes rake over them. "I'll have to try that one time, should be fun." At Hayden and Aelius' laughing, the soldiers went into even more of a panic and glanced over their shoulders in concern, paranoid that the two would be after them.

"Hang on a second, I'm going to have trouble if you guys-," Laure started as Aelius entered the building. Hayden gave a shrug to her general position as he followed the other man inside. The interior of the first room was luxurious. While the outside of most buildings in Atlas showed little personality, they often took the time to lavish the insides of the places with decorations. Most of the time it looked ostentatious and simply a brag of their wealth, but in certain places it was enough to take your breath away.

Being a military structure, this building didn't have nearly the same level of wealth in it, but it looked like someone had scrubbed every inch of it only a moment ago. The floors were a smooth marble, with a thick carpet that decorated the centre. Over to one side was a reception desk, while on the other was the start of a staircase that led up to the other floors in the building.

Aelius didn't even spare a glance at the reception desk to ask for directions as he made his way to the stairs. Hayden was about to stop him and point over to the desk, but he felt a small, sickening feeling in his stomach as he realised that Aelius knew exactly where he was going.

Aelius looked on the numbers above the doors as he continued walking down the second floor. Finding what he apparently wanted, he stopped in front of the door and waited for Hayden to catch up. Once they were side by side, he waltzed into the room. Two men in the snow-white Atlas uniform looked up at him in shock. The one behind the desk stood up from his seat in anger.

"What do you want?" the major sitting behind the desk demanded, his hostility clear. He recognised the uniform that Aelius wore immediately, and his eyes were narrowed with distrust. "I'm already in a meeting, if it's not urgent, then schedule a time and I'll get back to you." The man in question tutted, walking in gestured for the other officer in uniform to get up out of the chair. Once he did so, Aelius took his sear and placed his boots on the desk arrogantly. Hayden knew that he was trying to stir the major up on purpose.

"Well it seems that some experimental tech has been ending up in the wrong hands, and we know that they have been coming from this place," Aelius stated. It seemed that he was satisfied with how red the man's face was getting in anger, and took his boots off to lean on it with his elbows instead. The agent glanced down at the papers in front of the major and ghost of a smile flickered across his face. "Say, Dusk, don't you think that these pages look suspicious." Hayden grinned cruelly as he looked over at Aelius.

"Why I agree, I might just take a closer inspection," he commented. He reached down and snatched some off of the desk despite the major's cries of indignation. "Well I suppose if we don't find our target, we may as well get something constructive done today by looking over these, maybe we should examine the whole office just in case."

"Alright, fine, who are you looking for?" the major snapped in frustration. He ripped the paper back out of Hayden's hands and slammed it on his desk. He looked livid, as if the fact that helping them caused him actual, physical pain. "Just tell me who it is and I'll tell you where they work."

"The informant called him Verdent," Aelius told him. He was still completely calm in the face of the furious man in front of him. "Anybody with that name, or even a similar one?" The major let out a breath and thought for a moment before he shook his head and sat back in his seat.

"I don't personally know anyone here that has that name, or even a nickname," the major answered with a frown. "I don't think I've even heard a nickname close to it. I can get one of the receptionists to look into it, though." Aelius cursed under his breath. He looked over at Hayden, who watched the major suspiciously.

"Do you believe him?" he asked as he glanced at the squad leader, who nodded. Aelius stood up and walked to the door. "He could be working with them."

"It's also possible that everyone in this whole entire base could be working together, in which case I believe that we've walked into a very bad situation," Aelius smiled back at the major. "But I do hope you don't mind if we take a little look around at the rest of the place. If you find anything contact me on my scroll." The major scowled again, but gestured for them to continue, unable to prevent them even if he wanted to.

"By the way, did you manage to read what was on that paper?" Hayden asked Aelius once they had exited the room, to which the other nodded.

"They're cutting the cost of the robotics department, makes sense after the Vale incident," Aelius replied. "Though it might also give motive to sell some extra resources to restore the cut funds." Hayden nodded, then paused, as a figure that stood down the hall stared at them. Looking over at them, he couldn't help feel that something was wrong, as if their aura was unnatural.

"Hang on a moment, I got a message from Tuilen," Aelius frowned as he looked down at his scroll. "Damn, I got it a while ago and didn't notice that he sent it. Apparently, the guy he followed tried to warn his contact. They traced the signal and all of that. End product is that we're looking for a Jasper Greene, robotics lab two-A."

"Yeah, about that," Hayden said as he tapped his friend on the chest. Aelius looked up at him in confusion, then over at the figure and tilted his head a little. "Hey, Laure, have you seen anything suspicious going on outside?" There was a brief moment of silence. "Laure?"

"Hmm? Sorry, I got bored and looked down at my scroll for a second," she replied with a yawn. "Oh, heads up guys, the usual patrols aren't going around anymore, and it looks like there's a group of people that have taken the outside of the building." Aelius rolled his eyes and focused on the figure. It was impossible to tell any specifics, however it appeared that the figure was a female of a younger build.

"Ma'am, stand down," Aelius ordered and glanced over at Hayden, who had already extended his weapon from its idle state into its voulge form. He raised his hands to show that he didn't have any intention to harm her, despite the stance that Hayden had already taken.

"Careful Shade, I don't think that she's going to surrender this quickly, or at least not yet," he growled, though his leader gestured for him to stay and continued his bid for a peaceful negotiation. The figure drew two blades from what looked like out of nowhere and dashed forwards. Aelius began to backpedal in order to maintain the distance between them while Hayden rushed forwards.

Hayden blocked both of her strikes and kicked her back out of her range. His eyes widened as he saw the blade just an inch from his face, and ducked out of the way. The agent looked back at her with a scowl, but a sudden call from Aelius drew his attention to the thrown blade that was flying straight back at him. He deftly knocked it out of the air and glanced back at the woman to see several more swords floating in the air behind her.

"What the-?" he muttered under his breath as he looked back up at her blank mask, his eyes widening as the blades all shot at him at the same time. He dodged to the side as they passed within a hair's breadth of him. Hayden glanced back to see that they were racing towards Aelius, who observed the fight calmly. "No, watch out!"

Aelius ducked underneath the blades and grabbed the steel strings that they were attached to. He slammed them against the ground to throw the opponent off balanced. Calmly, he walked on top of the strings towards the figure, each step another pull closer to the ground and glanced over at Hayden with an indignant look.

"You know that I'm not completely clueless in combat," he said in an injured tone. Stopping in front of the combatant, he crouched down and examined her as she continued to struggle to rise to her feet. Once he was close to her, however, she stood abruptly, the steel strings that Aelius was stood upon raised and caused him to fall directly in the path of the retracting blades. He pushed himself to the side and rolled to his feet. Aelius jumped backwards out of the dive to avoid the rapidly advancing woman. His back slammed against the wall, and he ducked to avoid the swing of a blade.

"What did I say, if you're not going to take this seriously and use your weapon, then stay out of the damn fight," Hayden snarled as he dashed in front of Aelius and pushed him out of the way. His weapon whirled as they deftly blocked the myriad of blades that closed in to cut him to pieces. Aelius stumbled back and fell to the ground again as a rogue blade passed within an inch of him.

"Alright already, I get it," Aelius replied. He caught sight of another figure that was watching them. The man who had previously been in the major's office. He watched intensely the fight intensely. He didn't move, didn't even shake in fright. Once it was clear that he had gained Aelius' attention, though, he disappeared down the stairs. "I think I might have found a new lead, I'll be right back, you try to keep her busy."

Hayden glanced over at him and made a strangled noise of frustration in his throat as Aelius abandoned him to disappear down the stairs after the figure. He glanced back and grinned as he saw several soldiers run down the corridor and ready their weapons.

"All yours, boys," he called to them as he dashed out of the way. He swung his voulge over to rest on his shoulders as they opened fire. Unfortunately, the support was short lived. Another combatant that looked almost exactly the same as the first rushed out from between a different corridor and sliced past the soldiers. Her strikes depleted their aura instantly and all of them fell to the ground, unconscious.

"You know, I'd be able to help if you guys would get out in the open," Laure called out over the communicator as the two opponents closed in on him. Hayden blocked a blow from the first and turned around to strike at the second. While his back was turned, the first kicked him forwards, and the second grabbed him by the lapel.

"Alright, here goes nothing," Hayden muttered as he grabbed onto the combatant as well and dragged her bodily against the window. The two of them landing against the glass cracked it enough to the point that it just gave way under their weight. Hayden tumbled for a moment before he landed heavily against the ground. He gave a groan as he looked up at all the other combatants that stood in the courtyard of the research station, then paused. "Why did you bring me out here again?"

A loud boom echoed out as Laure fired her sniper. One of the combatants seemed to just vanish from view as she was hit by it. She tumbled over and over until she slowly came to a stop on the other side of the area. The combatant stood up back to her full height, a smoking crater in her stomach, dented to an impossible amount. It was now abundantly clear that this was no regular human.

"How is she still standing?" Laure demanded angrily. Her scope didn't allow her to see as much detail from this range, but she had seen enough to know that it had been a direct hit. Rarely had an opponent been able to stand again after taking a hit from her rifle square in the stomach. Usually they would be bent over, either in too much pain to move, or too busy losing their lunch. Firing once again, she was even more surprised to see that the combatant had determined her position and was able to deflect her second shot, though the forced from it was enough to send her stumbling back. "Hold on, Dusk, I need to relocate."

"Wait, you can't leave me on my own," Hayden snapped, but there was no response. Growling, he turned back to the large group of fighters, who steadily gathered around him. Screaming out, he dashed forwards as well. He jumped in the air as he brought his voulge down on one of them.

Aelius followed the distant figure calmly, his hands in his pockets as he maintained visual contact with him. As he rounded a corner to keep the runner in clear sight, Aelius came face to face with several more combatants. The officer ran into an elevator and rapidly pressed the button to close the doors.

"I thought I could smell the stench of Valesians," he growled, the fighters around Aelius steadily grew closer and closer. "You know, I'm almost happy about that disaster at Vale, it's what you all deserve after killing our hope."

"Now that was uncalled for," Aelius growled. His disposition changed rapidly, and it almost seemed as if a smoky aura surrounded his body. "However, I'll have you know that I'm an Atlesian, despite my favour towards Vale. If you're going to pass judgment, you should know the facts first."

"You might not be one of them, but all the same, you're as much a traitor to this nation as that Schnee brat," the scientist snarled. Aelius narrowed his eyes at the word traitor. He gritted his teeth and stepping forwards.

"You're one to start throwing around the word traitor," he returned. His fingers opened and closed in a fist at his side. "Because of your dealings with those criminals, Vale is the city that's in danger." The scientist turned to look at him with a manic expression.

"After they cut my finding, how else could I get her back," he snapped. Aelius tilted his head in confusion before a look of dawning realisation overtook his face. Tugging his glove off of his right hands, he stalked forwards. His arm snaked out and grabbed onto one of the combatant's necks in a flash, beginning to lift them off of the ground.

"I knew I recognised it from somewhere, but I just couldn't work it out," he grinned cruelly, running a hand through his hair as smoke began to curl out from where he was gripping the combatant. Slowly, his grip began to tighten relentlessly. "Something felt off about the aura of these fighters, but this 'hope', she was Penny, wasn't she? Which means these are all just hollow, mass produced versions of her." His hand snapped shut and crushed the throat of the fighter, whose head jerked for a moment before it fell limp. He tossing her aside where her damaged throat revealed wires and mechanics.

"How dare you!" The scientist shrieked as the rest of the robots dove into action and the doors of the elevator closed on him. Aelius dodged out of the way of dozens of grasping hands and slid to a stop just out of their reach. He watched as the mass of robots reached forwards once again. Grabbing one of their hands, he yanked one of the combatants out of the crowd and easily twisted the head out of place, disabling her. Whenever he touched the robots, the smoke around his hand danced across their bodies.

"Quite easily, actually," Aelius commented, dropping the body to the ground. "I actually thought that they'd put up more of a fight, but I suppose that's what you get when you sacrifice quality for quantity." An explosion caught his attention for a moment, but he quickly shook it off as he ran past the robots and towards a different elevator.

Diving in, he pressed the button to head down a floor. The robots tried to reach in and grab him, but he fought them off where he could. He managed to push them out of the way as the doors closed, and fell against the opposite wall as the elevator began to descend. Only a moment later, the doors gave a ding, and opened to a corridor that was a lot more claustrophobic than its above ground counterpart.

"Alright, two-A," Aelius muttered as he started down the passageway.

Hayden held his voulge in its flamethrower form, the dust injector that covered his arm glowing a fiery red as he scorched the earth around him. It looked like the combatants were wary of this type of fire, and didn't much like to go near it. Even Hayden didn't like using the dust in this way when he was so close to it. It felt like his skin had started to blister from the heat.

"They're trying to get around to your left," Laure informed him. She acted as his spotter. From her position, she was able to warn him where the most crucial zones to defend were. The barrel of his weapon flared up as a stream of flames fired out. The element coated the ground and cut off their advancement. The sound of transports caught his attention. From between a group of buildings, a small fleet of bullheads approached.

"Which side is that on?" he asked Laure. She looked down her scope at the transports. From a cursory glance, they looked innocent enough, but with her advantage, she could see that it wasn't an Atlas uniform piloting the machine. In fact, she couldn't recognise the uniform at all.

"I don't know, but they're not Atlesian. You might want to get ready. This is not going to go well if they're hostile," she told him. Their uniform was a deep violet, and what looked to be some sort of circlet. It appeared to be more ceremonial than functional. "I'm not sure if they have a leader here as well, but I'll keep watch."

"Alright, but don't take any shots," Hayden replied. "You need to stay hidden until we see whoever's leading them." Laure nodded, frustrated at her role. There was a time that she would have fought side by side with her teammates. Unfortunately, her actions had left her outside of the immediate battlefield. It was one of the worst pains, to watch her friends take blow after blow through the scope of her rifle.

When the bullheads reached the compound, the panels on the sides opened to reveal more of the mysterious soldiers. They began to drop in and charge forwards, towards the robots. Hayden felt a small amount of hope, until they ran past the mechanical beings and towards him.

"You have got to be kidding me," Hayden growled. He disconnected his weapon from his hand and ran straight through the flames he had created. The soldiers paused, shocked that he would charge them like that. It was all the time that Hayden needed as he swept his voulge in an arc and knocked several of them onto their backs. As a robot charged forwards, he grabbed it's face and unleashed a torrent of fire from his injector. Rather than the focused fire of the flamethrower, this was a wildfire that scorched everything in its path.

"I think I see the leader," Laure reported. She watched as another figure dropped down from one of the bullheads. He was dressed in a crisp suit, a darker shade of violet than the others. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, and he twirled a sceptre in his hand. Violet symbols decorated his forehead and dipped down to just below his eyes. Several other soldiers with heavier weapons and armour landed with him. They looked to be some sort of elite guard.

She steadied the shot for a moment. A green aura began to surround her form. She tightened her finger on the trigger. As the shell left her rifle, it left a green trail that was the same colour as her aura. For a split second, she watched the round hone in the figure, then felt a surge of satisfaction as he stumbled with a hand clutched to his right shoulder. The feeling quickly drained as he stood back up and glared in her direction angrily. He gestured to the heavier soldiers around him and quickly began to stalk off to the entrance of the complex.

Laure steadied herself to charge another shot. Her aura began to gather again, until a piece of the building close to her seemed to shatter and shower her with small pieces of debris. The weapons of the elites below fired a volley of heavy shots that tore into the building. Laure dove into cover as the stone that she had laid on a moment prior was torn to pieces by their bullets.

"Dusk, I'm pinned down, take out those heavy weapons, or get the leader, your choice but make it quick," Laure told him as she attempted to peek out of cover. She was quickly rebuffed by another hail of bullets. Hayden in turn was in a sea of metal and violet. Every single movement that he made swept at least three of the enemies away. He caught a glance of the leader pass near to him and made a movement, but the moment his back was turned one of the robots tackled him to the ground.

"I'm not in any better of a position, Habein," Hayden grunted. "Shade's going to have to sort this one out himself. Is there any word on Wraith's position? Some back up would really be appreciated, especially if they didn't get knocked down in the first couple of seconds." Laure took a moment to check her scroll. Her cover was getting concerningly small, but she wasn't in any immediate danger.

"He's on his way," she reported as she scrolled through the updates that he had messaged through. "It sounds like he's bringing some firepower as well."

Aelius tapped the icon to send his message and stowed away his scroll. In front of him was the laboratory that Jasper worked in. He paused for a moment, then grinned as all of the lights suddenly cut out. The door didn't even make a sound as he opened it. The leader of the squad placed a small device at the entrance, then vanished into the darkness as a light emitted from the centre of the room.

Jasper Greene stood at his desk and looked at his computer in frustration. The only source of light in the darkness was his scroll, which he held next to his head as he squinted to try and search around for the hard drive. The scientist swept the table's contents onto the floor in his desperation to find it.

"Doctor Jasper Greene, may I call you Jasper?" a voice echoed out from the doorway. The scientist turned around in terror with his pistol raised. He looked around for any sign of a silhouette in the shadows, but the radial light from his scroll shed gave him no reprieve. "I feel like I need to give you one chance to explain yourself, who knows, it might even help in your court martial."

"Explain myself?" Jasper hissed as he walked away from the centre of the room. He started to prowl around the edges of the room to try and find where Aelius could be hidden. "I worked for _years_ to make that girl. Our team put our hearts and souls into perfecting her. She was the next generation that would save thousands of lives. And then Vale happened. Our funding was cut. So much so that we would never have been able to make another model close to Penny. I needed to make up the money somehow."

"You can't even possibly talk about saving lives when you've endangered so many with your actions," Aelius spat. His voice emanated from a different direction. Jasper fired another shot, which gave a small _ping_ as it ricocheted off of a wall. "Do you realise how many people just today you've hurt in your desperation to evade all of the blame? You aren't even concerned about saving your fellow Atlesians. You're just as bad as the criminals that put Beacon to the torch."

"All I want is to build her again, is that so much to ask?" Jasper shouted at the empty air. "She might have only seen one person as her father, but she was still our family. All of us loved her, we all gave her life. Do you even know what happened to the rest of the team? Half of them are wasting away their minds in bars unable to bring themselves to work on anything else."

"And yet here we are," Aelius growled as he launched himself into Jasper. The two fell to the ground in a heap until Aelius slammed him to the floor with his hand around the other's neck. Small wisps of shadow circled around the scientist's neck. "You're on the wrong side of the law and about to be carted off to jail. I don't take much pleasure in my job, but I can say for certain that after what you've done, I'm going to personally see you off."

A shot sounded from close by, and Aelius felt gravity leave his body as he was thrown heavily away from the fugitive. He rolled to a stop and looked up at the well-dressed individual. His hand still held his right shoulder, from which Aelius could see a slight amount of blood drip between his fingers. The rod that he had carried was in the form of a pistol, which he deftly reloaded. the single cartridge that it carried was ejected out the moment it snapped open and landed behind him with a clatter. The both of them paused as they took stock of each other for a moment.

"Mr. Greene, I suggest you leave this place now, otherwise it will get very ugly," he told the man that was still laid out on the ground. His continued presence on the floor was mostly due to the shock of what had just happened. "I have some associates outside that will assist in escorting you out of the area. Your services are still very much needed in this world."

The moment that Jasper scrambled to his feet to escape, Aelius had started to sprint towards him at a terrifying pace. He was an inch away from the scientist when another shot threw him off balance enough to allow the man to slip past the violet individual. With his quarry escaped, Aelius turned and gave a frustrated roar at the man.

"Come on, give me the motivation to slaughter the beast where it stands," the figure grinned wildly. He twirled the pistol as it transformed back into its original rod form. Aelius charged forwards again. His body seemed to twist itself around the outstretched rod and grasp the man's arm. The squad leader's fist sunk into the side of the figure and caused him to double over before a kick sent him onto his back.

He started to push himself to his feet when Aelius slammed him against the wall. The only thing that prevented his throat from being grasped was the rod that kept the hands barely at bay. He visibly shivered as he looked at the creature in front of him. To call Aelius a human would be to call a grimm an animal. The aura that surrounded him wasn't a neat glow, instead it was a cloak of shadows that reached out towards the figure, who tilted his head away from the reaching darkness. It was the eyes that unnerved him, though. His usual golden irises had fractured. A dark red colour had started to filter in the gaps that had been left behind. The edges of his eyes had also started to turn a pale whitish colour.

"You've fallen much farther than I thought," the figure muttered. He pulled the rod away from the hands and let the hands grab his shoulders. He jabbed the rod into Aelius' stomach. The creature in front of him roared in fury and threw him away. The figure gave a cry as he slammed against the desk. He looked back up at the creature that was ready to pounce again. "This might be a job for me with both hands."

Aelius ran forwards again and jumped, both of his arms outstretched. As he neared the figure, the man brought his rod up and tapped him on the chest. Aelius didn't even have the chance to land. A bright violet flash blinded him, and when he lowered his hands from his eyes, he found himself afloat in the air. Gravity had completely left him, and he stared down at the figure with a frown. Violet lights traced along his body. In response, the figure tapped him again and sent him to slowly drift upwards and away from any way to propel himself.

"Until next time, I can assure you that it will end very differently, though," the figure grinned as he slipped away from Aelius' outstretched arms. He took a moment to straighten his collar before he hastily left the room. There was only silence for a few more moments, then the violet lights disappeared and he fell back down to the ground. Aelius spent a moment to catch his breath, then launched himself forwards in a wild sprint after the figure.

Hayden fell to his knees as the crowd began to force him down. Try as he might, he just couldn't do anything against the sheer number of enemies in such a dense proximity. A crash sounded close by, and he looked over to see a scientist run from the building in terror. The newcomer took a moment to take stock of the battlefield before he began to run towards the bullheads.

"Habein, I think that's our target," he grunted over thee communicator as he pushed a few of the enemies back. There was just no feasible way for him to get out of the throng any time soon, even though he had slowly been making progress. "Are you clear enough to take the shot."

"They aren't even giving me a millimetre," she snapped in anger. She hated being away from the fighting, but it was a given due to her weapon. Now she was completely useless and couldn't even support her friend in close proximity, the only option she was left with was to watch as he was slowly overwhelmed. That anger bubbled away fiercely, and it was all she could do to not risk herself to try and take out the elites that had her pinned. As much as she wanted to help Hayden, she couldn't afford to let anything happen like the last time.

The next crash was even more surprising, though. The man in violet and Aelius both tumbled through the door. Aelius had his hand wrapped around the man's throat, and the other delivered rapid punches to their leader's midsection in response.

"You just cannot give up, can you?" he choked as he pushed Aelius faraway enough to bring the rod around again. Aelius recognised it immediately and pulled away, but quickly moved to stand between the man and the bullheads. The two faced each other for a few moments before they quickly ran back in to clash once again. The man jabbed at Aelius with the rod and caused him to duck backwards with each thrust. After a few more tries, he gave up and attempted a tackle on Aelius, who merely stepped back once, then started to take hold of the man again, the wisps of shadow once again returning to dance across his skin.

Aelius gave a brief look of discomfort, then his eyes widened as he felt himself start to float higher in the air again. He made a grasping motion at the man, who merely batted away his hand with the rod. The man gave him a small grin as he gave a little wave and started to walk away. Aelius gave an animal like roar as he continued to rise. But he couldn't do anything until the man and the scientist had boarded.

As quickly as they had arrived, the soldiers began to leave. The robots, however, stayed to continue their fight. The elites quickly moved into the bullheads as well, and Laure peered back around the corner to see the doors shut with a certain finality. Atlesian dropships could be seen approaching as the bullheads began to take off. Several of the dropships split off to chase after the bullheads while two others landed in the compound's courtyard. Soldiers quickly joined in the fight against the robots. The combined strength of the agent and the soldiers finished the battle without much of a problem. Immediately afterwards, Hayden turned to Aelius.

The lights vanished and he fell to the ground. When Aelius drew near, he looked up with that same bestial fury and prepared to attack. Hayden quickly spun his weapon around and delivered a swift blow to the side. His leader fell once more, and this time he didn't get back up.

One of the dropships that remained landed on the building that Laure had been on to ferry her to the ground. When it did reach the compound, not only she, but Tuilen as well descended towards them. The both of them paused in shock as they looked at Aelius' fallen form. Hayden had knelt down next to him and looked back at them wearily.

"I had to knock him out, he wasn't in the right mind anymore," Hayden apologised to them. Laure didn't seem like she had listened. Instead she looked in Aelius' eyes as he began to stir. As he woke with a start, Laure gasped as she saw the red in his eyes grow more pronounced for a moment. After he blinked a few times, the change started to fade, and a more concerned, worried look took over his face.

"I wasn't even holding the weapons," he mumbled incoherently. "Why, how?" The softer expressions on his face all but melted his teammate's hearts as they looked down at the man who used to be like a younger brother to them, and eagerly fought to protect them. Laure couldn't do anything but hug him and bury her face into his shoulder.

"You're fine now," Laure reassured him, before she threw a glance back at the others in concern. Tuilen knelt down next to Aelius and laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. After so long, he had finally been able to see his best friend. He was unsure whether to be thankful for the events of today just to see that same person again.

"Don't worry, we're going to work this out," he told Aelius confidently. Aelius nodded for a moment, then collected himself. his cold mask returned as he pushed himself to his feet and out of his friends' reach. They had mixed reactions as he started to distance himself from them again. He looked around at the base, then at the soldiers that milled around and tried to put the place in order again.

"Alright, let's make our statements and get this embarrassment over and done with," he muttered. The four of them readjusted their masks to make sure that they were all presentable enough before walking towards the soldiers. Their coats were lifted by the cool breeze that blew through the base from the between the buildings nearby. "Oh, and I know that it was you that hit me, Dusk, we're going to have a little talk about that later." His comrade visibly gulped as the other two smirked over at him.


	3. Chapter 3

James Ironwood examined his scroll as he sat in his private office. He flicked between different documents and read them with weary eyes. He had been attempting to rectify the damages that was caused by the troops that he brought to Vale during the Vytal Festival. It had been a project of his, and one of the main points that he fought for during his time as a general, and now all his promises had been turned into ammunition against him.

All he had wanted to do was remove the human element from battle and protect their people, but now everything had turned into a mess. The council wasn't going to allow him to pursue such research again for a while, and those that he had worked with on it still seemed to be in shock. Some of them resigned from the department the day of the incident.

And as if that wasn't enough, now it looked like Vale's fate was threatening to be repeated in Atlas. The fact that the raid on the research facility had been a success was a mar on their reputation. Atlas city security forces had been in full damage control to make sure that the word hadn't spread too far. They didn't want any two-bit bandit clans thinking that the city was weak enough that they could take what they wanted.

The reports that had come in about the incident made little to no sense either. It wasn't any information about the persons of interest that made him so frustrated, but rather the lack of it. None of his sources could tell him concretely where the attackers had come from, or even if they had been seen before. As far as they were aware, the group could have come together the day before.

Official information wasn't much better either. The document that the investigative committee had sent to him was so full of redacted information that he could only find their physical description. Aside from that, their abilities, semblances, even evidence that had been left behind had all been struck out. A small notification appeared in the corner, and his face softened a little as a small amount of relief washed over him. It didn't stay that way for long. He narrowed his eyes and glanced over the rejection to release the redacted information.

"How is that possible?" he muttered under his breath. His hand clenched as he resisted the urged to hit the table. His standing should have allowed him to see all of it, but the classification that was required to see the information wasn't even listed. Something wasn't right. He switched over to the messaging system and typed a message out to one of his contacts.

 **I** : _Why was I refused access to the information?_

 **C** : _I'm not sure what I can tell you, we've got guys in suits here that took over everything with the documents. I don't even know who they belong to._

 **I** : _Are they Internal Affairs?_

 **C** : _No, this is something else, I can't say anything else, it doesn't look like they're too happy about me using my scroll at the moment._

 **I** : _What about the second document?_

 **C** : _Sorry, that one's out of my reach, I'm not even allowed to read it to declassify, you're going to need to ask around for someone else to take a look._

Ironwood sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he glanced over at the second document that he had looked over. This one was almost as bad as the first. For someone to be part of his own military, and to not know everything about him gave him a sense of unease.

Aelius Caiun, the leader of the Internal Affairs squad SHDW. Somehow he was tied into all of this. He didn't quite know how, but the responses he gave during the debriefing of the incident bugged Ironwood. What tipped him off to take a look at his file was that he had quite clearly fought the leader of the raid, and acknowledged the fact. When he was questioned about the weapon that the man used, Aelius seemed to clam up and avoid answering anything more than its physical description.

"Who are you?" he muttered as he looked at the young man's past. Raised in Atlas, he had departed the country to study at Beacon. His family name once held a large amount of power, but had since declined to carry just a small amount of weight in certain circles. Apart from that they were socialites of his home village that quite often led trade deals with other areas for the dust mines nearby. From there the same damned lines began to appear. The name and design of his weapon was withheld, as well as his semblance.

When he entered Beacon, he partnered with the Faunus, Laure Racacia during the initiation. Their squad was completed with the addition of the twins; Tuilen and Hayden Cuplagh. They proved to be very capable Huntsmen from even their first year and graduated the academy with glowing honours. He maintained contact with Ozpin, who he had become close to over the years of his study. However, after a certain mission, he vanished.

All that was released about the mission was that it had been an operation to exterminate a nest of grimm that had started to become an issue. Apparently, the concentration of the grimm had been greatly underestimated, and the group was lucky to get out of their alive. The reports suggested that Aelius had been affected by it greatly. He had quite often put himself on the line to protect his squad, and when he led them into such a great danger, he lost his confidence.

The whole next section had been completely struck out, not even the dates remained. When the report became legible again, he had returned to his squad several years later. In his absence, several Huntsman and Huntresses had attempted to fill the position of a leader, but none remained for long. They claimed that the group was too reckless and unruly.

Then Aelius returned and they all left for Atlas together. Somehow he had managed to secure a job in the Internal Affairs through what was more names that had been redacted, and their record had remained untarnished ever since. Ironwood flicked through several photos of the group, and his face became more concerned with each one.

A knock on the door disturbed him from his thoughts. A soldier walked in and saluted sharply. Ironwood responded in kind before they both fell at ease.

"All of the ones that you requested have been gathered," the soldier told him. Ironwood nodded and stood up from the desk. He followed the soldier out of the room and through the hallways of Atlas Academy. Much like the rest of the city, the smooth, white stone halls were uniform and kept in perfect shape. The students of the academy stood to the side respectfully as they passed.

The soldier stopped in front of one of the rooms and stood by the door. He gave one final salute as Ironwood paused to prepare himself for what was going to happen. He took a breath and glanced at the various faces of the list which he had compiled, then walked into the room.

He looked around at the room of soldiers, many of them Huntsmen and Huntresses as well. They wore their uniforms proudly, save for one group. The four members of the Internal Affairs group sat at the back of the room and stared down at him. He couldn't tell whether it was good or bad, but whenever he caught their eye, a shiver ran down his spine.

At least the majority of them seemed to have a partial respect for him, and with the knowledge of their background, he couldn't blame them for their mistrust of him at the moment. Only the red-headed one, Hayden, sat back in his chair with his boots on the desk in front of him. His look felt like he was ready to challenge Ironwood at any point he could.

"We have a situation," the general announced to the room. "What I will say in this room cannot leave it, so if you feel like you don't want to burden yourself with this information, it might be best for you to leave now." He watched impassively as several of the squads left. Hayden made a move to leave as well, but the two that sat on either side of him dragged him back down to the bench and hissed words at him, which he shrugged off.

"There is a force that seeks power above all else, and what they want to do with that power, we cannot say for certain, but what is, is that they must be stopped," Ironwood told the soldiers. "What happened yesterday at the research facility may not be connected to this force, but we cannot rule out the possibility that they're separate either, and while professor Greene remains at large, they have potential for a devastating increase to their power."

"This taskforce will be given the responsibility for bringing him, and the people that he works with to justice," he continued. "Due to the sensitivity of the problem, I will be taking direct command over the squad. If none of you have any questions, then you may all leave. The location and time for your new base of operations will be sent to your scrolls. Knowledge of this taskforce cannot get out and risk the targets fleeing."

"Somehow I don't think they'll be too scared," Hayden interrupted. Ironwood felt himself twitch at the man's attitude. He'd already had enough of Qrow when he had visited Vale, and now it felt like he was right there again with him, except there was a distinct lack of alcohol. All heads turned to face the Huntsman, his own squad included as he brushed a strand of fiery hair out of his eyes flippantly. "I mean, let's be honest, your military did jack all over in Vale. In fact, they were probably as bad as the Grimm. If they're the same guys, then what chance do any of us stand?"

"We had no idea what was coming in Vale," Ironwood replied. His face was taut and his eyes narrowed at Hayden's comments. "We didn't realise what they were capable of, and we underestimated them. This time we will be going on the offensive, and attack them before they have any idea of what we're capable of in return."

"Which is what exactly?" Hayden gave a dry bark of laughter as he stared down at everyone in the room. "I don't know if you've been keeping score or not, but as far as I'm aware, every single time that we've come into contact with these guys, we've lost."

"Which has only been two times so far," one of the other soldiers told him stiffly in response. "What have you done that's so special that you can call us on it, have you won in a fight against them yet?" Immediately after he said the words, he froze and glanced back at Ironwood, who gave him a stern look of disapproval. After the soldier quietened down, Hayden had to get the last word in.

"My point stands," he muttered as he was pulled back down to his seat by his teammates. The agent avoided the glares of the rest of his squad sullenly. One of them poked him to ask him something, but he only shrugged in response and laid his head on the table to rest on his crossed arms. The general cleared his throat as he prepared to continue talking.

"Does anyone else have any questions?" Ironwood asked tersely. The rest of the room sat in awkward silence. "Alright then, dismissed." The various squads began to leave the room. As they passed the general, they gave salutes, which he returned. When the Internal Affairs squad passed by, though, he looked Aelius square in the eye. "I need you to stay behind." The rest of his squad exchanged looks, but he waved their concerns away.

"What do you need?" he asked as the last of the soldiers left the room. Ironwood leaned against the wall and studied him for a moment. He wasn't in the Internal Affairs uniform anymore, Ironwood's request for them to join the taskforce had meant that they had to give up those responsibilities. The group had still worn their coats, though, which showed their clear allegiance.

"I want to know more about the man that you fought with yesterday," Ironwood stated. He could see that the instant he mentioned the fight, Aelius' body language tensed up. It was clear that the young man wasn't too eager about the conversation. "I don't need to know a lot, just what he might be capable of, and if you have any advice. I realise that we may be out of our depth, but we can't let them gain any more ground than they already have."

"I'm not sure what I can say myself," Aelius replied carefully. "Some of this stuff is out of my league, and I've already got enough people breathing down my neck about confidentiality." Ironwood maintained his look until the man before him sighed. "Look, all I can really say is that he has the potential to do some damage to a lot of people. If you thought that the Dragon was bad news, this guys could take it down on his own. If you want anything more, then you'll have to go through the proper channels."

Ironwood watched impassively as Aelius gave a half-hearted salute and left as well. When he opened the door, he looked around at the other three who pretended not to have listened in and just continued past them. The sounds of their conversation echoed down the hall and out of earshot. As lively as it was, it sounded forced, as if they tried to maintain a façade of an atmosphere that had long since left their group.

The general sat down in the seat and opened up Aelius' file on his scroll again. He knew that the young man was connected to all of this somehow, but he still wondered if it was only the failure that changed him so much from that bright, smiling teenager, with his light blonde hair into the quiet and reserved man today.


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you doing alright?" Tuilen asked Aelius quietly as they moved down the hall. Hayden and Laure continued their pace up ahead as they ambled through the academy. "Did Ironwood ask about, you know." Aelius remained quiet for a few moments. The topic that Tuilen referred to was rarely talked about even amongst them.

"No, he didn't," Aelius replied finally. "He just wanted to know about the guy from yesterday." Tuilen didn't speak until he realised that that was all that Aelius was going to talk about it.

"You know, you could talk to us about it-," Tuilen began, but Aelius quickly cut him off.

"I'm fine."

Hayden and Laure seemed to have realised about the conversation that had occurred between the two, and they fell silent as a heavy mood fell over the group. Eventually Laure came to a stop in front of a pair of large doors.

"Wait, where are we?" she asked, and looked around at the group in confusion. As far as she was aware, none of them had really been to Atlas Academy before. Hayden stepped forwards, however, and pushed the door open to reveal a large room filled with students and teachers alike. Dozens of rings lay on the floor, with racks of mock weapons to the side of each one.

"This is the gym at Atlas Academy," Hayden announced. He stepped forwards and stretched out his arms, before he turned back to the group to give them a grin. "I'd been feeling some stress within the group, and thought that this might be a good idea."

"I said that I was fine," Aelius replied with a sigh.

"I didn't say it was about you," Hayden replied and clicked his tongue at him. He moved over to one of the racks and pulled out a wooden sword and shield. He dropped them on the ground and slid the objects over to Aelius. "But thanks for volunteering anyway." He ran his hands over the mock weapons before he grabbed a hold of a staff and pulled it out as well.

"I Don't want to fight you right now," Aelius replied as he slid the items back away. He stared back at Hayden evenly, but when he looked over to the other two, they had already left to take a seat on the stands that lay to the side.

"You're not getting out of this," Hayden told him simply as he moved into the empty ring. Aelius gave a small sigh as he threw a surly look over to the other two. He picked up the sword and shield. The dark-haired man deftly tested the weight of the sword, and moved to join Hayden in the laid-out area. The material was a stone that had been cut to provide an uneven ground, which tested the combatants' footwork as well.

The two huntsmen faced each other and flourished their weapons. In the brief amount of time before the fight started, they needed to familiarise themselves with how fast they could swing the weapons accurately. Hayden's eyes never left Aelius as he focused one the sword. As they started to circle each other their feet tested the ground in an attempt to practise their balance and memorise where they stepped.

Hayden almost smiled at the familiarity of the situation. He hadn't been able to practise like this with Aelius for a very long time. Ordinarily the man usually avoided having to spar against others, and always managed to disappear just when the practise was about to start. He wasn't sure if Aelius had been in a good mood today, or if he was just lucky, but Hayden was thankful for it either way. When their squad had first been formed, Aelius was hopeless at fighting. Both Hayden and Tuilen had bickered constantly over who should have been the team leader, but not long after, they had noticed how he improved as he fought with them, and alongside them. His potential was far greater than they had though.

There was no dispute that Hayden was the most skilled out of the four, and once he noticed how quickly their leader learnt, he took over his training personally. By the end of their schooling, he had reforged Aelius into a skilled warrior, who sometimes even bested him. On his off days of course. But when he disappeared, Hayden couldn't deny that a part of him felt empty without their daily sparring, and when Aelius came back, it made him miss it even more.

The only way that they could have been further apart was if they weren't even in the same squad again. Hayden gave a slight sigh as he collected himself. This fight right now wasn't just to release some built up stress and frustration, it was to show Aelius of what he once had, and what he could have again.

"You know I won't go easy on you," Aelius called over to him as he looked up. He watched Hayden's flourishes carefully, in as the man decided to charge him without warning. That was one of the methods that he had used to prepare him for the unexpected. Cheating, Aelius called it. Hayden laughed loudly. The sound startled him. Hayden grinned over at Aelius, his eyes flashed menacingly.

"Please do, I don't want to put you out of action for tomorrow's first briefing," Hayden retorted. He lowered himself and dashed forwards. The fiery haired man rolled forwards and brought his staff up to jab at Aelius' jaw. Aelius threw his head back. He could feel the staff miss his face by a hair's breadth. The leader of the squad knocked the pole out of the way with his sword and launched a kick at Hayden.

Hayden twisted out of the way and dove to the side to get some room. He looked over at his friend's posture and stance critically. Hayden pushed himself to his feet and began to walk forwards. His staff whirled to begin a much more standard flurry of blows. Aelius blocked them easily, and even started to push Hayden back, until the man manoeuvred his staff under Aelius' guard and jabbed him in the chest.

"Your guard looks fine, but it's all just an appearance. You can remember how you held it, but not the force behind it," he snapped. Hayden knocked Aelius' blade aside and smacked him on the side of his leg. Aelius fell to one knee and bite his lip to hold back a curse. He looked back up at Hayden and raised his shield just in time to stop a devastating blow against his neck. The two looked at each other evenly while Aelius held his shield in the way.

"This is too much," Laure muttered, biting her nail as she watched the brutal attacks nervously. Even during their training at beacon Hayden was never this rough. Tuilen wasn't nearly so concerned though. He looked at the situation as if he was bored. He had never truly been one to dive into a fight, and found the process troublesome. The same talent that had allowed Hayden to soar, was what enabled Tuilen to coast.

"Aelius can handle it," he replied. His eyes surveyed the situation carefully. While he often neglected to train his body, his mind was as sharp as the best. Despite what he said, he had no intentions of letting the situation get out of hand. He had known that Aelius had forgone his training with the sword and held the belief that he wouldn't be able to use it again. Instead he had focused his efforts on hand to hand combat.

A loud crack sounded as the staff splintered pieces off of the shield. Aelius looked back up at him for a moment as he gathered his breath in his chest and pushed forwards. He threw the shield at Hayden, who gave a cry as the wood struck the staff out of his hand. The red-haired man barely had any time to react as Aelius lunged forwards, his hands clenched into fists.

Tuilen tensed up a little as he watched the counter-attack. Aelius was far more aggressive than he had seen before. Even when he was angry, he always kept a measure of self-control. His movements now were different though. Laure noticed his attitude and she bit her lip to stop herself from interfering between them. She trusted Tuilen enough that he would step in when he needed to.

Hayden was stunned at Aelius' seemingly newfound proficiency to deflect his counters. He wasn't able to land a hit with any of his regular attacks. The red headed Huntsman decided to switch his style, and his whole body seemed to relax. Hayden's strikes became increasingly erratic, and almost appeared to change directions at will just to avoid Aelius' hands.

The change in movement didn't do much to change the rate at which he continued to move closer to the edge, though. Hayden gritted his teeth as he slowly counted the steps that he had taken backwards while he continued to try to block this flurry of blows. He gave a short growl as he skipped back a couple of paces out of Aelius' reach, then dived forwards again with his momentum renewed.

The difference in their skill was clear. Although Aelius showed an unnatural speed and strength, with the momentum behind his back, Hayden slipped through each of his strikes to deliver his own. With each blow that he landed, he could feel Aelius start to slip, little by little, his guard chipped away by Hayden's rapid punches.

It almost appeared as if the two danced as they whirled around the ring together. They each made and lost ground, however as the battle wore on, only Hayden started to show the physical signs of exhaustion. Hayden clenched his fist as he gradually felt the swings against him change gradually, becoming less of a punch, and more of a swipe. He looked up to Aelius' eyes to see that they had started to change again. He had started to lose him once again.

Once more, Aelius could feel his thoughts slowly warp and twist. Voices layered over what he wanted to do next. They corrected him, changed his actions and improved on his movements and attacks. But every time that he followed through with what they whispered in his ear, he felt the world around him grow dimmer and dimmer.

Before he realised it, he couldn't see anything anymore. It felt like he had taken a backseat in his own body. The voices that whispered to him, surged past him. They argued with each other in small, hissing voices that he couldn't pick the words out to. He fell farther and farther, and his head felt like it had been wrapped in cloth. Everything he heard and touched felt like they were further and duller than before.

A hand reached down into the darkness, though. He looked at it curiously, and grabbed a hold of it. Before he knew it, he had been pulled back out of the darkness, and saw the world through his own eyes again. Hayden was below him, trying to gasp through his knee that he had planted on the man's stomach. Aelius' other hand was raised with the index and middle finger poised to strike down at his friend's neck. He pushed himself away, and looked at him in shock.

"I-I didn't mean to," Aelius began shakily. He gradually stood up as Hayden gathered himself, and when both he, and the other two stepped forward to talk to him, he just left. He pushed through the students and teachers alike, his face down as he felt it flush in shame for what he had let happen. He pushed past the doors and disappeared from sight.

"He'll calm down by tomorrow," Tuilen mentioned to the others as he started to head off as well. Hayden and Laure glanced at each other for a moment before they called out to stop him.

"We can't just keep ignoring that this is happening," Hayden interjected.

"How can you be so sure that he'll be okay?" Laure demanded of him at the same time. Tuilen just sighed as he looked over at them. His eyes were weary, and he looked just as worried as them for a brief moment. Then his usual air of aloofness returned, and he just shrugged.

"Aelius is my best friend, so I need to trust him," he replied simply. "We have no idea of what he's going through at the moment, but he has tried so hard to stave off whatever this is, so much so that it has started to hurt him, as well as us. As his friend, I'm forced to see him put through this pain, or lose himself forever, and after so long of this, I'm not entirely sure which is worse."

"Don't you dare say that," Hayden growled. Tuilen just stared at him for a moment, then sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not saying anything that is happening is what I wanted," he mentioned. "It hurts me, just as much as it hurts the both of you to see him suffer. Now I'm not entirely sure what I can do to ease this pain if I can at all, so if you have any better ideas, please tell me."

After a long moment's silence, Tuilen just turned and walked away from the other two. He wanted to tell them of the sleepless nights that he and Aelius had spent researching what had happened to him. They had tried to find any information at all. But all they came to were bedtime stories and dead ends. It was as if someone had actively blocked their attempt to search for any information. After a year of this, they resorted to self-control. But even with the knowledge that Tuilen knew, he couldn't imagine anything that Aelius had described. The concept was too alien to him.

Aelius stared up at the open sky and felt the cold breeze of the afternoon chill his face. His heart still raced at an abnormal rate, and the red in his face from the fighting made a soothing contrast to the temperature. He dangled his feet off the edge of the roof and stared down at the academy grounds below.

"Drink?" he heard a voice behind him. A silver flask entered his view. The person shook it a little to emphasise the liquid inside. Aelius reached up to take the container and opened it carefully. He gave a disdainful look at the contents, then took a sip from it. The leader of the squad grimaced at the amount of alcohol in it, and made a face at the teenage girl that took a seat next to him.

"This is a horrible habit to have," he told her as he downed the rest of the bottle. After she realised what he was doing, she made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, but nonetheless took the flask back after he was finished.

"Says the guy who sculled it!" she exclaimed as she held the empty container over her mouth and tasted the last drip. Her hair was almost a platinum blonde. It had been cut short and swept to the side with the other side shaved. She wore the Atlas Academy uniform, which was immaculate in every way.

"Don't worry I'm saving you from it, you'll thank me later on," Aelius replied with a grin. He pulled her into a hug and ruffled her hair. She gave another exclamation and pushed him away to fix it. His demeanour calmed slightly, and he looked at her with a grin. "So, how've you been holding up, Camellia?"

"Same as usual, keeping an honour student image is so not worth it," she moaned and collapsed back against the roof. "Like, dad doesn't even expect me to go anywhere with this, I'm supposed to do well, then go back home and sit on my arse. We barely even see any grimm near the town anymore. But no, I need to be top of my class to make _his_ name look better."

"You could go abroad, like I did," Aelius suggested. The girl made a face at him this time and shook her head.

"Beacon's gone, Mistral is shady at best and Vacuo isn't much better. I'd rather be here and feel safe than someplace that can barely hold its people in check," she told him bluntly. Aelius winced at her forwardness. He couldn't argue that there weren't many people like that. His previous experience as a Huntsman had proved otherwise.

"If you want freedom, you need to get ready to sacrifice some things," he told her gently. "Even after you graduate here, I know that you want to leave and have adventures, and you can't expect everyone to protect you out there." The girl remained quiet for a short while. She opened her mouth to say something, hesitated, then closed her eyes and braced herself.

"Father wants to see you," she told Aelius. As soon as the words came out, she looked over to see his tense body. Aelius' eyes were narrow as he looked out over the grounds. "Ael, he's not the same as before. He even asked me to stay from the academy. He wants our family back again."

"No, he wants his weapon back," Aelius replied tersely. He ran a hand through his hair and gripped it for a moment. It was tempting to just pull it out, a reminder of the choices that he had made, and just how permanent they were. "It doesn't matter anyway. I don't have it anymore. Even if I did, I would never see him while I'm still like this. The disappointment was bad, but I don't know if I could handle him being disgusted by me."

"You're my brother, my family," Camellia told him as she hugged him. "I might have been surprised when I saw you like that, but I would never have been disgusted. He might have been hard on you when you were younger, but don't forget that father is still your family. He has a hard time showing it, but he loves you too. After you left, he was distraught. I don't think he slept for a week, and all the time he was just worried that you had made it over to Vale safely."

"I'll think about it," Aelius replied with a sigh. He could never say no to Camellia. The two had been almost inseparable when they were younger. He still remembered when he read tales to her every night about the Huntsmen, Huntresses and their exploits. She had managed to keep him going when nothing else could. He could at least give her a promise, no matter how hollow it was. Pulled away and softly punched his shoulder.

"I need to head back to class. I can only push being late for so long," she told him as she stood up and dusted herself off. "I'll see you around."

Aelius listened to the sound of her footsteps as she left the roof. The sound slowly faded and the wind stirred again. He relaxed once more and concentrated only on the feeling of the sun's warmth on his face.

"Yeah, I hope so."


	5. Chapter 5

An Atlesian transport soared through the air. It passed between several mountains on the snowy terrain as it approached a building in the distance. It sat in a valley, almost impossible to see amongst the craggy terrain. The building itself was small, and looked like it was only slightly larger than a hut, however as the transport approached, the top of the building lowered to allow it to slowly descend inside.

The interior of the building was vastly different for two reasons. The first was that it was a lot more technologically advanced than it originally appeared. Pieces of machinery that were designed to load and unload cargo from ships hung from the walls. Panels had fallen off in the disrepair of the place to reveal bundles of wires within.

Wind kicked up from the transport as it finally landed. Pieces of paper flew around the hangar and clung to the walls until the landing gear finally touched the ground. The loading ramp lowered to reveal Ironwood as he descended from the aircraft at a measured pace. It wasn't exactly a pretty sight, but it would serve well as their base of operations, as well as a place to start the investigation.

A small cough from the side directed his attention. He tore his revolver from its holster and aimed it at the woman that stood just out of the shadows. The woman appeared to not be fazed by the reaction, and instead started to walk forwards. She wore a sharp, grey suit. It could have almost been mistaken for a military uniform, if it wasn't devoid of any markings and insignias.

"I'm so sorry for the disturbance," the woman apologised smoothly. "I'm sure you would have been able to see me better, but I guess you haven't had time to put the lighting in yet."

"Or even let anybody else aside from me know the location," Ironwood replied warily. He didn't lower his revolver as the woman approached, but he didn't seem ready to pull the trigger just yet. The woman cleared her throat as she looked at the barrel of the weapon that pointed straight at her, and adjusted her tie.

"Yes, well you may call me Ms. Onyx," she replied with a thin smile. "I have been appointed to advise you during your investigation. You have chosen a task that is incredibly dangerous, and far above your league. This means that you must also adhere to some very stringent rules."

"What do you mean by far above my league?" Ironwood demanded angrily as he prepared to tell her who he was exactly. The sound of another dropship approaching distracted them from their conversation, and both of the men looked up to see a second dropship lower through the opening and land next to Ironwood's. He stowed his revolver as the other ship loading ramp lowered and the rest of the task force began to disembark. Ironwood's eyes narrowed as he saw far fewer than had been there yesterday, and he threw a glance at Onyx, who merely looked at the group welcomingly.

On the other side of the exchange, Aelius, who had been idly chatting to the other members of his squad, promptly froze as he saw Onyx. The blood drained from his face, and it too a physical push from Tuilen to get him to continue to move. His steps were wooden and he cast his head down as he approached. While all of the soldiers in front of the general saluted, he avoided looking at the woman altogether.

"Alri-," Ironwood began, but the other woman cut him off.

"Let us proceed to the briefing room," she interjected. After a moment's pause as the group looked over at Ironwood with uncertainty, he gestured for them to do as she instructed. His hand clenched in his pocket, and he refrained from barking at her to mind herself, however as much as she infuriated him, he felt that he would lose more face by losing his temper.

The woman led them through the underground area of the building until they reached a room that looked as if it had been specifically repaired. At the very least all of the walls had been repaired, and the chairs that had been lined up behind desks didn't look they would break if even a feather landed on them.

The Huntsmen and Huntresses filed in and sat down in their separate squads, their eyes one the woman as she looked back warmly. Ironwood stopped at the door and leant against the frame, his eyes intently on her.

"Good, this kingdom thanks you for your service and dedication to take on such an onerous task as this," the woman began. She tapped on the wall behind her, which lit up to show a picture of the man who had attacked the compound the other day. It was a grainy picture the displayed him in a coat, rather than the uniform earlier. "Please be aware that nothing that is told here can leave this facility, the information that is about to be shared is sensitive, enough that I shouldn't need to threaten you with anything but its weight."

This is our target. He is a member of a dangerous organisation, one that we would rather leave alone. The power that they represent is enough to warrant a declaration of war against them alone. However, it appears that this one in particular has shown a desire to pick a fight that we cannot back down from. He has made it clear that he disregards our laws, and we cannot risk them pushing and poking until they cross a line which they cannot uncross."

"He was born Eugene Indagos," the woman continued. She brought up a file from her scroll and started to read it to them. "He was part of a relatively ordinary family, however fifteen years ago they all just vanished. What happened to them in the interim is uncertain, but what we do know is that he has since gained the position of one of the four hierarchs of the organisation, though we are not sure exactly how much influence he has with them due to his young age."

"There is not a lot that we know about the organisation, but something that we can be sure of is that they consume a lot of dust, and for good reason. The power that they can exude puts most Huntsman and Huntresses to shame. Be wary of their semblances. We aren't even sure what they are exactly, but a few of our agents have just vanished off of the map after they encountered the figureheads of this organisation. We weren't even able to find a body afterwards. If you find or see someone that you believe could be one of those figureheads, make sure that you do not engage until you have a lot of backup."

"Sorry to interrupt, but what exactly makes them so powerful?" Hayden called out from the back of the room. "Natural ability can only take you so far, but the vibe that I'm getting from you is that these guys are anything except natural." The woman looked at him in annoyance, and it seemed that she was about to reply with something, but paused as her eyes flickered over at Aelius, who pointedly stared at the picture.

"You're right, they are getting a boost to their auras from an external source," the woman answered after a moment. "However that information, like a lot more, will have to remain confidential. There is a lot of risk that such powers could be taken and used to create a circumstance which has a risk of provoking another war. For the moment, that is all that we can tell you. Right now, feel free to look around the facility. This is where Professor Greene was first contacted by the organisation, and we're trying to find all we can, however the facility is expansive, and the search is still ongoing."

The soldiers slowly got to their feet and began to head out of the room. A low mutter started as they began to discuss the revelations between them. Tuilen tapped Aelius on the shoulder and they stood to leave as well. Once the majority of the soldiers had left the room, the woman made no effort to hide her stare on his back while he left the room.

"You did very well in keeping yourself in check," the woman noted to Ironwood, who merely looked at her evenly. "I'm assuming that you managed to guess where I came from."

"I thought that some of the shadowy organisations were just rumours, but it would be foolish to think that any of them would voluntarily come out into the open," Ironwood answered. "That doesn't mean that I can accept you stepping over my authority. You might have a lot of importance behind your task, but that doesn't mean that you have more power than me."

"You would be surprised," the woman smiled back. "You see, we might not have power on our own, but when it comes to the authority that we have been entrusted with safeguarding, we have the power of full council behind us, as ordered by the original council." The silence hung in the air between them as the full weight of her words came to bear.

Eugene sat on the floor of the room, his legs crossed and his eyes closed. The surroundings were completely silent, and in front of him, the sceptre floated, surrounded by a purple aura. At his gesture, it started to float around him. Slowly, other items in the room began to float as well. They constructed a makeshift course for the sceptre to navigate until it finally reached his front again. The door slammed open and everything fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Eu-… sir, I have a message from the others," the elite reported. He stepped forward and knelt in front of Eugene with a scroll outstretched. He kept his head down as Eugene looked at him. He looked exhausted, and he was drenched in sweat. What he had just done had apparently been enough of an exertion on his aura to take a physical toll.

"Get up," he told the man irritably. The man looked up with a startled expression on his face, then started to retreat after Eugene had taken the scroll from him, his face continually downcast. "You know you don't have to treat me any differently just because I got the position, you have just as much right to be where I am."

"But I'm not there, am I?" the elite asked pointedly and walked out of the room. Eugene's face twisted in annoyance and he threw one of the items against the far wall. The act left him breathless for a moment. He turned back to the scroll and opened it up. The soft glow of the screen illuminated the room brighter than the candles.

As he read, a soft glow started to surround him, and his face twisted in frustration, then outright anger. The objects slowly began to lift as a purplish tint filled the whole entire room until finally the only colour he could see was purple. Everything hit the floor with a loud bang. The scroll was wrenched out of his hands. Rocks shattered, metal flattened. The table behind him snapped in half and began to fold down under the pressure that was forced on it. All of the destruction never left the floor though, and only skittered away from the initial impact.

As quickly as it happened, everything stopped. Eugene fell to his knees as a headache came over him. He bit his lip to stop himself from crying out at the pain and a bitter metallic taste flooded his mouth. He touched a finger to it through heavy eyes and found that it wasn't healing. He was completely drained. Everything went blurry and he fell onto his back. Eugene couldn't even move as he felt all of the strength leave his body and the darkness closed in.


	6. Chapter 6

"So, you're going to stop and tell us what exactly is going on here," Hayden growled as the team moved away from the others. Aelius pressed forwards, his hands in his pockets and his head down slightly. He seemed to pay almost no attention to his surroundings, exemplified as the red-haired Huntsman yanked his shoulder to prevent him from walking straight into a wall.

"Aelius, please, just talk to us," Laure begged him. She grabbed his other shoulder. He flinched at her touch, and his eyes filled with guilt as he looked at her. She maintained her grip on his shoulder and kept him in her grasp.

"Just you, come with me," Aelius told her shortly. He shirked Hayden's arm away and took a hold of Laure. The two of them were stunned enough that they just let him pull her away into a separate room. The area was just as in disrepair as the first hangar, and barely any light filtered into the dark room. As soon as he was out of sight. Aelius collapsed against a wall and fell silent for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Laure asked softly. Aelius let go of her hand, his fingers lingered on hers for a moment before he hugged his body tightly and looked up at her. She wanted to hug him as she looked at his eyes. She wanted to comfort him and tell him to forget about all of the hurt and fear that she saw in them.

"It was her," he whispered quietly. His voice was almost indeterminable from the ambient noise of the facility, as if he was terrified that the woman was in earshot. "She was the one that recruited me." Laure frowned as she struggled to make the connection, then her eyes widened and she started to walk back out. "Wait! You can't do anything to her. The whole group she's with is untouchable. If you do anything, you, Tuilen, even Hayden won't stand a chance."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Laure demanded. She turned to face him, and her eyes flashed with anger. "You won't let us help you, you won't let us fight for you. Why did you come back for us if you didn't want us to be together again?" The room was silent except for Laure's breathing as she slowly started to calm down. She winced and placed a hand on her forehead. "I'm sorry that was uncalled for."

"No, it's fine," Aelius murmured. He slowly fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor. The dark-haired man cradled his head in his arms. "I'm sorry, but could you leave me alone for a bit?" Laure raised her hand towards him slightly, then let it fall at her waist.

"Yeah, don't be too long," she replied softly. She made her way out of the room and back to the other two.

As soon as she left, Aelius brought his knees to his chest and started to shiver. He grimaced as the face of the woman appeared in his mind. Seared in there. No matter what he did, he could never forget what they did to him, the pain that they had put him through. The pain that they had put his friends through.

He wanted to tell them. He wanted to tell the whole world what had happened to him, to run back to Vale, to go back to the family that he had made himself. But to do that would be to put them all to the fire, and that fire would spread wherever he went. He knew for a long time now that his grip on his own ego, his sense of self had started to slip, and it was all he could do to not let that fire burst out of control.

"This place is so freaky," Hayden murmured as he wandered down the dark hallway, away from where Aelius had just led Laure. Rows of empty doors continued down further than the two could see into the darkness. He shivered a little and looked back at Tuilen. "I cannot wait for them to fix up the lights."

"Don't stray too far," Tuilen warned. He wandered a little after his brother just to keep him in sight. "We've got electricity running in the walls, most of the bulbs around the place have just blown out. Apparently, there was some sort of energy surge a while ago that damaged a lot of the systems."

"Sounds like someone didn't want anyone to come snooping around," Hayden grinned, to which Tuilen shook his head in derision.

"This isn't some little murder mystery game," the other twin replied. He took out his scroll and absently flicked through the memo that they had been sent earlier that morning. "It's one of Atlases most secretive research sites, I have no doubt that some messed up stuff happened here in the past."

"Hey, look, I guess when they brought the power back some of the computers came online again," Hayden called out excitedly. Tuilen glanced up just in time to see him disappear around through a doorway. He muttered under his breath as he jogged after his brother. Tuilen skidded to a stop in time to see Hayden tap furiously at a keyboard in front of a screen. "Damn, it has a password."

"Hang on, let me through," Tuilen told him with an exasperated sigh. "I thought we agreed that you'd leave all the stuff that takes actual skill to me?" Hayden raised an eyebrow and stepped back with his arms crossed.

"Alright then, mister expert, show me how the master does it," he snorted and started to poke around the room. Tuilen just shook his head and plugged a cord into his scroll, then attached the other end to the computer. A small screen popped up on the monitor, and he started to type away. A few minutes passed by as Tuilen tried various codes and scripts to get in. "It sure is taking you a while."

"You know, if I don't do this carefully, the system might just wipe itself clean, or it might even affect the facility somehow," Tuilen replied, his attention still mostly focused on the screen as the brightness illuminated his face. "Or would you rather I just brute force it and lose all of the marvellous clues you could find."

"No need to be condescending," Hayden told him.

"That's a big word for you," Tuilen shot back. Hayden rolled his eyes and fell silent, he wasn't going to be able to get anything through to the man at the moment. When he was in his element, Tuilen saw any distractions as obstructions, and often insulted people just to get them to leave him alone. Sometimes it didn't work so well, which meant that Hayden had to step in at times to defuse the situation, which felt just plain wrong.

"GYAAH," Hayden screamed and fell backwards, Tuilen looked up, startled to see a figure on top of his brother. He drew his weapon as the two grappled with each other, then jumped back as the figure soared across the room and clattered against the far wall. Hayden scrambled back against the wall and shook like a leaf. "That… thing, it had no face."

Tuilen stepped forwards carefully and rolled the figure over with the tip of his voulge. The metal endo-skeleton flopped onto its back, it's lidless eyes stared up at Tuilen, lifeless. He looked at it for a moment, then drove the voulge through it and pinned the metal figure to the floor.

"It's fine, just a dummy," Tuilen told him shortly. The two let out a breath as the adrenaline started to die away. Hayden gave a final shudder, then pushed himself back to his feet.

"How's the hacking going?" he asked and walked back to Tuilen, who noticed that he gave the figure a wide berth.

"I'm in," Tuilen noted. The final codes had been accepted as the panic had broken out. He looked at a blank desktop with the insignia of the Atlas military as its sole background. Hayden gave him a cheesy grin, and he rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am going to take a look, so calm down and just try not to lose to anymore lifeless dummies."

"Technically I won," Hayden grumbled under his breath. He looked over Tuilen's shoulder as the man looked through the files.

"This place was all about robotics, wasn't it?" Tuilen asked, to which Hayden could only give a noncommittal shrug. "You don't read anything, do you. What I mean is, if they were looking at robotics, why is there so much research on auras."

"Well this was where that robot girl was made, wasn't it?" Hayden mused. "She had an aura, maybe that was because of this research." Tuilen scrolled past to a video. Hayden hijacked the mouse quickly to click on it. "What? I can watch this, if you bring up a thousand page report, I might fall asleep or something."

"You say that as if it's a bad thing," Tuilen muttered. The sound of the video made them jump as it finally loaded. They looked at a spartan white room with a copper haired girl who sat across from a man in a white coat. Tuilen's frown deepened as what was clearly an interview progressed, until he finally exited out of the video and pushed the mouse away from him. "Nope, I can't watch that."

"What's the matter?" Hayden asked. Tuilen stood up and started to pace around the room. He stared at the endo-skeleton with distrust and took his voulge back from it.

"She was too lifelike," Tuilen told Hayden. "I mean, she went undetected in the Vytal tournament until the semi-finals, didn't she, and that video. Imagine if they made a family of those… things, and just sent them over to a different kingdom to spy on them. If they were better, you probably wouldn't even notice, just put their differences down to oddities."

"I think you're taking this a bit too far," Hayden said apprehensively, but they were both interrupted by a call from the corridor.

"Boys, where are you?" Laure called out. The two poked their heads around the corner and saw her walk towards them, her face pale. They rushed out instantly and ran over to her.

"Are you alright?"

"Did you get hurt anywhere?" the both of them asked at the same time. Laure couldn't even tell their voices apart as they start to rapid fire questions at her. She held her hand up to quieten them.

"I'm fine, but Aelius," she started. As she paused, the both of them prepared to list off more questions, which she quickly glared down. "The woman that is working with Ironwood, she's the one that first took him away from us." The two brothers' eyes widened, then their faces twisted in anger.

"I knew that the two were related somehow," Tuilen muttered.

"Well, just because they're from the same kingdom, doesn't necessarily mean that they're from the same family," Hayden pointed out. Tuilen opened his mouth to say something, then just sighed and turned to Laure, completely cutting Hayden out of the conversation.

"She said that this Eugene guy or whatever has a major boost to his aura, from an external source," Tuilen told Laure excitedly. "That means that whatever is giving him that, is also what happened to Aelius. If we can get either of them to open up to us, we might be able to find a way to turn him back to normal."

"Wait, what?" Hayden asked from behind Tuilen. He looked from Laure to his brother with a confused expression.

"Haven't you been listening at all the past three years?" Tuilen asked exasperatedly. Hayden gave him a half-hearted shrug. "Look, Aelius changed after he left, and when we saw him again, he had those weapons, and his aura and semblance were completely different. This guy, his aura worked similarly, from what little I saw, plus he has an absurd amount of it, the same as Aelius. Whatever happened to him, happened to Aelius, and this woman knows what."

"Aelius doesn't want us to confront her about it," Laure told him. She sighed as Tuilen gave her a look of annoyed confusion. "Look, I don't know what he went through, during that time that he was gone, but what physically changed him wouldn't have changed his personality, you can still see parts of him when he drops his guard. They did something to him that he can't even talk to us about. And he's terrified that they're going to do the same to us."

"If you're going to talk to her, just be careful," Hayden told Tuilen. "It's pretty dumb for me to be saying this, but Laure's right. We can't just walk all over Aelius and force him to change back. They hurt him, in some way that has left a scar. Until it's healed, I don't think he will ever open up to us. If we pick a fight with this woman and lose, we just might make that scar worse."

"But if he can't heal until he opens up to us," Tuilen told them angrily. "If we can change him back physically, it might be the start that he needs." The two looked at him uncertainly. All three of them felt that they were in a corner, and they didn't know the right way out. Tuilen shook his head and started to walk off. "I just want my friend back. If the two of you are fine with leaving Aelius the way he is, then I'll fix him on my own, even if he doesn't want me to."

Ms. Onyx sat at a desk in one of the restored rooms. She looked through paperwork and signed on several, then tossed another few into the wastepaper basket next to her and snapped her fingers. A small fire rose from the basket and spread warmth through the cold room. Some of the ducts had been blocked by refuse, and needed to be cleaned out before any heating could be supplied to the building. The door burst open, and she looked up to see the familiar lock of blue hair as Tuilen walked up to her desk.

"Ah, Mr. Cuplagh, I thought that we might have to talk soon," she smiled at him. Tuilen's eyes narrowed in suspicion at the warm attitude that she showed him. "I am rather thankful that you chose to take the initiative and see me, rather than your brother."

"He knows better than to try to negotiate with people," Tuilen replied. He spotted a chair and dragged it over to the desk. The piece of furniture creaked, and the two occupants of the room winced as he carefully lowered himself onto the seat. "But I am rather glad that you're open to a conversation."

"Oh, there won't be any conversation," the woman told him simply. She closed the file in front of her and looked up at the man evenly. "Your friend is lucky that he's managed to keep himself out of trouble thus far, and I'll make sure that he won't cause anymore. It is up to you whether you help him to control himself, or bring down the consequences of his actions."

"That's not really how I see it, though," Tuilen answered sweetly. The woman clicked her tongue as he refused to respond to her threats sourly. "You see, I've seen Aelius when he's been close to losing control, and I know just how dangerous he can be. I also happen to know that it is usually brought on by bouts of extreme excitement, or anger. You can't do anything to Hayden, Laure or I otherwise I'm not sure that Aelius will ever calm down."

The woman stared down at him. Her fingers clutched the table tightly for a moment, then she took a moment and relaxed.

"You might think that you're safe for the moment, but keep this in mind," the woman started. Her eyes were narrowed, and her nostrils flared. "You have no idea how dangerous he can truly be. Your 'friend' will kill all of you one day, and when that happens, I will personally make sure that nobody remembers you, any of you. All they will think is that a few Hunstman and a Huntress encountered a wild grimm, and the Atlas military rapidly wiped it out."

Tuilen said nothing as he stood up again and started to walk out of the room. He reached the door and glanced back at her for a moment. She looked back at him, and her fingers shook with anger. Tuilen smirked a little and waved at her cheerily. He ducked out of the room and closed the door on a muffled curse. The smirk quickly fell from his face as he turned around and came face to face with Ironwood.

"Is everything alright, Lieutenant?" the general asked the young man. Tuilen saluted sharply. He stared directly ahead as the general moved to stand next to him.

"No, sir, I just had a query for Ms. Onyx," he replied. His tone was polite and formal. Ironwood nodded in approval of his attitude.

"When you get back to your dorm, tell Captain Aelius to see me in my office," he told Tuilen, who faltered a little.

"Sir, wouldn't it have been easier to send him a message?" Tuilen asked. Ironwood gave him a stern look, and he saluted again. "Sir, yes sir."

"Good, dismissed," Ironwood said. As Tuilen left, he glanced over at Onyx's door, and his eyes narrowed for a moment.

Aelius stepped through the door to Ironwood's office. It looked like the uniformity of Atlas had infected the place here as well. The clean, pristine room was nothing like the rest of the facility, but it was just the same as any other office that had existed back in the city, save for the fact that it was even more spartan. Aelius had to give credit where it was due, this office at least wasn't the usual hidden decadence that most of Atlas' elite hid behind. All that Aelius could see was paperwork and plain white surfaces.

"Thank you for meeting me here," Ironwood told him from behind his desk. Aelius saluted him, then relaxed once he was waved down and gestured to sit down. "I've asked you before, but you can't hide the fact that you're mixed up in all of this somehow. This isn't just about finding them or bringing these people to justice. I need to know what we're up against so that I can keep my people safe. This woman, I don't trust her enough to lead you all safely. I've seen her type before. She can only see you as resources."

"I don't know everything myself," Aelius told him. He paused for a moment, then winced and shook his head. "A lot of what happened before, I had no idea what was going on, and I only really got caught up in the middle. What I do know, was told to me by a friend, so I can't even really guarantee what they know as fact. They are the most intelligent person I know, though, so there's that."

"Anything will help," Ironwood told him gently. He usually kept a stern attitude, but when he saw the look in Aelius' eyes as he reflected back on that mysterious past, there was a pain and a haunting that he often saw with others that had seen great battles. Demanding and forcing the young man to talk wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"Your little secret organisation isn't the only one out there," Aelius told him evenly. It was the straightforwardness nature of the statement that took Ironwood aback. He just stared back, shocked, as Aelius continued. "If you know much about that woman, then you would realise that it's not just state secrets that they deal with. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you had dealt with them in a different nature with your own relic. However, you need to keep in mind that if one fairy tale is real, then what's stopping all of the others from being more fact than fiction?"

"So you're saying that what we're dealing with it-."

"The original weapons," Aelius finished. Ironwood frowned and stared down at the table in deep thought. "The first weapons that were designed to fend off the Grimm, and the ones that were created with the intention to save all of humanity."


	7. Chapter 7

The squad looked down at their gear as they waited in the dropships. The familiar sense of anticipation before battle hung in the air, almost tangible in its intensity. Aelius gave a glance at the others as a screen on the inside of the dropship switched on to display Ironwood and Ms. Onyx. They sat next to each other at a desk while figures moved around hurriedly behind them.

"You are all approaching the target," Onyx informed them. "Remember, you each need to clear your carriage of the train. We don't know where Indagos will be, but whether he is on this train or not, the shipment needs to be halted. The more dust that we can prevent getting to him, the weaker he will be when we find him."

"How did she even know that this was coming through here," Tuilen muttered to Laure. The two hesitated to put on their helmets while Aelius, Hayden and the other dark-armoured soldiers that accompanied them did so. Once they put on the gear, there would be no privacy between them anymore. All that was said would be able to be heard not only by their squad, but the staff at the facility. "Her 'sources' sounded pretty sketchy at best."

"We don't really have too much choice, do we?" Laure replied. She threw a sidelong glance at the other two, who conversed quietly from under their helmets. Their voices echoed, muffled and unintelligible from the radios inside the helmets. "Just soldiers in another battle." She pulled the helmet over her head and turned to the other two to join in their conversation.

"Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one that remembers when we were free," Tuilen muttered to himself before he pulled his own helmet on.

"Good of you to join us," Hayden remarked to Tuilen. He could almost feel the scowl emitting from under the other man's helmet. "We've been talking to the guys here. We're thinking that you and I are the entry team. We'll clear the carriage with our weapons while the guys pick of anyone that tries to get out of the top hatch. Aelius and Laure can head to the front and back entrance and deal with the contacts that try to escape out of there."

"What's your idea if Indagos is in our carriage?" Tuilen asked.

"We don't really have much in mind," Aelius admitted. "Pretty much everything's going to end badly if we try to fight everyone at once, however if we disconnect the carriage from the front of the train, we can cut him off from half of his reinforcements, and even call in our own. That said, it could get ugly if he brings in his own friends. We still don't have much of a clue about how big his organisation is. It could range from a cult to a hidden civilisation for all we know, so we've got to act as quickly as we can, hopefully faster than him."

"So pretty much going to have to adlib everything as usual," Laure sighed and sat back in her seat. A tension ran through them as the dropship rocked slightly. She breathed out to relieve some of the pressure. "You know, one of these days I'm going to spend a whole day just to plan out a mission, and then we're going to see who's is more successful."

"As long as you're volunteering," Aelius shrugged. Everyone in the dropship tensed up as a siren sounded, and a red light flashed at the end of dropship. All of the soldiers there, Huntsmen and regular alike stood up and prepared themselves. Aelius rolled his neck as the ramp of the dropship started to lower to reveal the cargo train that sped through the snowy plains of Atlas.

Behind them, several other dropships had started to position themselves over the train as well, the other squads that accompanied them. The soldiers took up positions on either side of the lowered ramp. Down below, the same mysterious soldiers had started to exit the train to fire at the encroaching crafts. Hayden ducked his head as a stray shot sparked the inside of the craft and made a loud _ping_.

The soldiers fired back at the figures. Aelius could see that the other dropships had started to return fire as well. A second volley from the targets below made one of the soldiers reel back and curse as they touched a hand to the point on their armour where they had been hit. Aelius could see that his aura levels were still relatively fine through his helmet's visor.

The moment that the light turned green, the rest of the soldiers and Huntsmen jumped out of the dropships. For a brief moment, all they could hear was the wind that rushed past their faces. Even the shots from the soldiers below were almost silent as they whizzed past. Aelius twisted his body around in the air and landed feet first on one of the soldiers. He launched off of him and landed a few feet away, then charged in again at the warrior.

He pulled the man's gun forwards and slammed his fist into the other's throat. While the enemy stumbled back off balance, he dashed forwards again and punched him in the shoulder. Aelius slammed his foot into the man's newly exposed back and watched as he disappeared off the side of the train and out of view.

He turned back to see that the others had dealt with the rest of the enemies on their own and waited while Hayden and Tuilen prepared to breach. The two twins stood on the centre of the carriage's roof and grabbed each other's forearms. Their red and blue aura's, respectively, started to surround them, then slowly warped colours to become a solid magenta. They turned to face Aelius and Laure simultaneously and gave a nod.

The other two Huntsmen disappeared down between the carriages while Tuilen knelt down on top of the carriage and placed his armoured hand one the metal. Slowly, the roof under his palm started to turn freeze over as ice began to spread across the surface. Once it had reached a sufficient size, he took a few steps back. At the same time, Hayden twirled his voulge for a moment and jumped into the air. He slammed down onto the roof and shattered it. The two of them landed in the middle of the carriage and looked around at the group of warriors that stood and stared at them in shock.

"Targets found and engaged," the both of them stated at the same time. The enemies didn't have any idea of what hit them as the twins charged forwards. Hayden jumped above them and dropped into the middle of the group that stood in his half of the carriage, he spun around and grabbed two of them.

He dragged them back to his brother and jumped in the air as Tuilen slid underneath him. The dark-haired man slammed his weapon into the both of their necks. They hit the ground hard. He could see that some in the back had started to try and run to the exit of the carriage, but they were quickly rebuffed as they opened the door to find Laure, who had finished fitting a pair of knuckle dusters onto her hands.

She glowed green as she blocked a punch from the first warrior that charged at her, then dropped low to deliver a strike to the inside of his knee. The man grunted as he fell down a little, then flew backwards from a strike to the chin. He attempted to struggle back to his feet, but fell down in pain, shocked to find that his aura wasn't healing his injuries.

The four of them were devastating in the tight area, despite the disadvantages that were presented to the long weapon users. The enemies had nowhere that they could hide from the strikes or the sweeps of the weapons, and the twins gave no openings. They fell back against each other as Aelius and Laure pushed the combatants further into the middle of the carriage.

Their semblance allowed them to connect to each other and draw on the other's strengths where they would ordinarily fall short. It connected them to such an extent that they could feel exactly what the other saw, and what they were about to do. While some gained a certain synchronicity with experience, theirs was unparalleled. They whirled and fought, the movements so quick that it grew almost difficult to tell which was which as they often switched places in order to maximise their efficiency in combat.

A sudden tremor that ran through the train caused Aeliu's attention to snap outside. He vanished out the door and jumped back up to the top of the carriage where he saw the front of the train start to lift off of the tracks, surrounded in a purple energy. The squad that had attempted to take control of it fell off of the sides and rolled down the plain away from it as it slammed back down on the tracks. It was a miracle that it kept going. Aelius noted that the squad's aura levels were still active before he opened the communicator.

"Laure, I need you up top," he called out. Aelius couldn't see the man yet, but as far as he was aware, he needed to be in physical contact with the object in order to manipulate it. "I think that we have a definite location on Indagos." A few moments later, he glanced back to see that Laure had pulled herself up to the roof of the carriage. She pulled the sniper from her back and extended it into its full form.

"I don't have any visual," she reported as she looked down her scope. Aelius frowned as he looked intently at the first carriage. "Wait, I think I see something." A figure jumped up to the top of the carriage and surveyed the fighting that was going on around them. Several other figures pulled themselves up after.

Laure could at least recognise their armour as the same as the elites that had fired on her before at the research facility. The last figure was different from the other before in that he wore armour instead of just the normal clothes. It seemed to be a more ornate version of the elite's armour, but their doubt was assuaged when the sight of the familiar rod was brought out from behind the man's back.

"Alright, I'm taking the shot," Laure told Aelius. Once again, green surrounded her body and concentrated on her hands. She aimed carefully, then fired her rifle. The round left behind a green trail as it passed by some of the soldiers on the carriages. This time, however, Indagos moved quickly and deflected it with the rod. He looked over at the two of them and gestured with his rod. The elites raised their weapons.

Instantly, Aelius ran back and dragged Laure to the ground as they started to fire on the carriage. Sparks flew around them from the rounds that hit the metal roof. Aelius pulled Laure close and looked up with a glare. It seemed that they were far enough outside of the elites' effective range, but that didn't mean that they couldn't get lucky.

"Aelius, use your weapon, now!" Onyx ordered him over the radio. He paused and glanced down at Laure for a moment, who kept her vision concentrated on the elites. It seemed that Onyx was using a private channel to avoid others hearing her orders. "Your friend thinks that you're safe just because you're a threat. He fails to realise that out here, I have more than enough time to initiate fail safes before you do any actual damage." He grimaced, then firmly kept Laure out of the bullets' path as he brought himself to a knee.

"Aelius, what are you doing?" she demanded. She tried to push herself up as well, but a bullet hit close to her hand and caused her to flinch and fall back to the metal roof. Aelius didn't even blink as the sounds of the bullets passed by him. He stood up and stepped forwards, both of his hands reached inside of his coat. "No, don't do it!"

He reached behind his back until he felt the familiar feeling of his weapon around his hands. An abrupt pull down locked them in place, and he lifted his hands out to reveal the clawed gauntlets. A moment passed, then he fell to his knees as the sensation of disconnect came over him. Everything seemed to dull as he looked around at the battle around him with a new sense of apathy. Dully, he could hear a scream from behind him, but it didn't matter, nothing mattered except for the hunger that steadily grew within him, and the bright light that stood at the front of the train.

A dark, shadowy aura surrounded him and seemed to exude in a cloak. Occasionally, one of the bullets looked to hit him, but just passed through the darkness harmlessly. Everyone else paused as they looked at the creature that stood in their midst.

"Is that a Grimm?" Laure heard from over her communicator. Two red eyes glowed from within the darkness and stared down the others that looked at him.

"No, it's a friendly," Onyx told everyone on a full broadcast. "Do not fire on it, let it engage Indagos. Make sure you don't get close, though, it is volatile." The moment that she finished, Aelius dashed forwards. He didn't even run on both legs, settling into a dash on his arms and legs. The shadow only seemed to grow as he rushed towards Indagos, who seemed visibly distressed from the new occurrence.

"Damn it," Laure hissed. Hayden and Tuilen jumped up to the top of the train and froze in their tracks. Hayden's face twisted in fury, and he started to rush forwards, only to be pulled back by Tuilen. He winced as he felt Tuilen's grip tighten painfully on his shoulder.

"Why?" Tuilen asked. Laure just looked ahead wordlessly. Only Aelius knew the reason why he had used his weapons now.

At the front of the train, Indagos looked at the quickly approaching creature and hissed through his teeth. The elites formed up closer to him and paused for a moment to prepare themselves. They watched as the shadows grew tighter around Aelius' form and bounded forwards before it launched itself into the air. Indagos sneered and levelled the rod. His own purple aura surrounded him and the shadows scattered into the winds, losing their shape.

He tilted his head to the side as he lowered his vision back down to see Aelius only a few feet in front of him. He fell backwards as one of the elites dived forwards to protect him. Aelius dived into the elite and dragged him down to the metal roof. The shadows once again shrouded him as he stared down at the man.

The elite had never seen anything like it, and he just stared back, petrified. A single punch knocked him out as the creature moved onto the next enemy. The elites ran forwards, but they may as well have been paper in front of shears. Each one was tossed aside and slashed by the claws. Their weapons were useless against Aelius, and they couldn't even hope to match the creature's strength.

After only a few moments, the only people left on the front carriage were Aelius and Indagos.

"I always knew that you were a monster deep down," the man sneered. His eyes blazed as the aura around him intensified. It manifested in a coat of its own. The thick, purple light that obscured his armour seemed to drag down to the ground, and every step that he took left an imprint in the metal roof. "It's about time that you finally show everyone your true colours."

The creature opposite him merely snarled in response and charged forwards. Indagos blocked the first slash with his sceptre and ducked out of the way of the second. He twirled the sceptre in his hands and skipped forwards. Each attempted strike fell short and his face clouded with fury when he heard what seemed to be a throaty chuckle from within the cloak of shadow.

The two met each other in a grapple, and immediately Aelius' aura was enveloped in a coating of purple. The shadowy creature's feet slipped out from under it as it started to float higher in the air. Indagos pulled out of its grasp and winked as he transformed the sceptre into the pistol. He fired the shot at point blank range.

Unlike the others, Aelius was sent soaring through the air from the impact. After the glow vanished from its aura, the creature landed heavily against the roof of the train a short distance away. Before it rolled off, it dug one of the claws into the top of the trained and slipped over the side. Indagos gave a snort of derision and placed the sceptre on his shoulder as he turned to walk to the front of the train.

A claw reached up and slammed into the metal roof. The fingers punctured the train and gave Aelius purchase enough to pull up. The creature cracked its neck as it stood up straight and strode forwards. Several of Indagos warriors ran forwards to stop Aelius, but the instant that they reached the shadows which decorated the floor at the creature's feet, they stumbled and fell to their knees.

Indagos paused and turned around again to face Aelius. He rolled his eyes and sighed as he transformed the sceptre back into the pistol and fired. Aelius merely smacked aside the round with the back of the gauntlet. The ball of light spun off into the distance and gave a soft _boom_ as it detonated. He frowned and started to back away slightly as the creature approached without hesitation.

Aelius ran forwards again and dove down the middle between the carriages and vanished from view. Indagos tilted his head to the side slightly, then his eyes widened and he rolled forwards as a set of claws tore into the metal where his feet were a moment earlier. He pointed his pistol down at the newly made hole in the carriage and fired.

Everything after that seemed to move in slow motion.

"Oh, damn it," he sighed as he realised his mistake. The detonation rocked the front carriage and pulled it off of the track. Everything carriage after it followed as well. He jumped as the carriage began to turn onto its side, but a shape grabbed his waist and slammed him back down into the metal. He gave a grunt as he looked up at the claws that reached down towards his face. Indagos raised his arms to protect himself as the sharp implements rained blows down on his arms. Luckily most of the brunt of the attack was deflected by his own aura, however he winced as he felt each strike weaken it until the claws raked across his skin.

Indagos kicked up at the shadow and pushed Aelius away from him. He scrambled across the falling carriage and knocked an outstretched claw aside with his sceptre. He transformed it back and fired a shot at the creature. Aelius barely dodged and continued his pursuit of the man as they parried back and forth on the almost weightless battlefield.

Indagos dived to one side while Aelius dive to the other as the carriage hit the snow with a massive _thud_. A wave of snow covered them both. Indagos looked up to see that Aelius had already found purchase on top of the carriage and was ready to jump down at him. A beam of light raked across in front of the creature and caused it to jump back.

Indagos looked back to see a bullhead with one of the panels pulled back to allow the robot to fire out of it. He scrambled to his feet and dived away as Aelius hit the snow in front of him. He was surprised to see that Aelius ran straight past him and towards the bullhead. The creature scrambled up one of the trees to disappear out of sight for a moment, then burst from the treetops to grab onto the bullhead and scuttle inside.

The creature dove on one of the robots and for a moment, shadow seemed to expand and fill the entire inside of the bullhead. As quickly as it had come, it shrank back to just coat around Aelius, who looked at the robot with a new sense of distaste. The robot stuttered as it limply raised one of its arms, which Aelius easily shore off. The creature looked back at the other robots, who all ran forwards.

Aelius fell back out of the bullhead under the weight of the other robots. Before the creature hit the ground, it pulled one of the robots underneath it and slammed it against a branch that they rushed past. The other combatants fell to the ground and landed neatly. Aelius landed on top of the robot and stood up straight. The metal corpse beneath him twitched and sparked from the injuries it had sustained.

The creature looked around for a moment, then dove towards the nearest robot. It gripped it by the neck and threw it over at another robot that had started to charge. The two went tumbling over each other away in the snow. Aelius grabbed another and threw it to the ground. The creature launched itself on top of the combatant and tore at it. Each tore into the machine and ripped pieces out of it.

Behind the creature several other robots advanced while it was busy mutilating their ally. Before they could attack, several rounds tore through them and sent them to the ground. Laure, Hayden and Tuilen took out another three and polished off the rest of the forces. Once they had secured the area they looked over to see Aelius continue to attack the robot.

"He's completely out of it," Tuilen growled, he and Hayden ran forwards, both with the same idea. They tackled Aelius to the ground and winced as the creature's shadow started to crawl up their legs. The creature struggled underneath them, its strength almost enough to throw them off. Laure knelt over Aelius and reached down into the shadows to grasp the physical head underneath.

"Don't lose yourself," she told him. The red eyes narrowed at her. She leant closer, and as the distance between them closed, the darkness receded, and the glow of the eyes faded. "I know you're in there, and you won't give in to this that easily. If you do, then we'll just kick your arse until you come back to us, so just come back."

The shadow vanished, and the twins hastily pried the weapons from Aelius' hands. The man underneath stared up at all three of them silently before he closed his eyes and fell back against the ground. Laure placed her forehead against his as the twins fell back, exhausted. Aelius' jaw clenched and he controlled the urge to curl up into a ball.


	8. Chapter 8

"You failed in your mission," Onyx told Aelius. The two were alone in the debriefing room. She had already dismissed all of the other soldiers. Aelius' squad mates had protested quite vocally when they were told to leave without him, but the man hadn't even batted an eye at the inevitable talk that was coming.

"The train was successfully stopped, and the organisation was prevented access to the dust deposits on board," Aelius answered calmly. He didn't even look at the woman as she walked to stand next to him.

"That was the mission entrusted to the task force," she answered. Her eyes were narrowed as she looked down at him imperiously. "Your task was to eliminate Indagos, however in you uncontrollable rage you couldn't even manage to figure out how he was able to escape."

Aelius' fist slammed down into the table and he stood up to look Onyx in the eyes. She barely managed to control the shiver that threatened to crawl down her spine as she looked at the flicker of red that danced deep in his irises. As quickly as it had come, though, it was gone.

"I don't believe that you have ever been subjected to the effects of these weapons," he told her in an even tone. "But it isn't exactly the easiest task to retain control of your own body while there are other threats like Indagos present. It has even started to affect me when I'm not even wearing the gauntlets. Controlling myself isn't so much the issue as just managing to retain a fragment of myself while the weapons take over."

"Yes, we are aware of that," Ms. Onyx replied. She turned away from him, and bit her lip to stifle a second shudder that ran through her. There was something unnatural about Aelius that steadily grew stronger and stronger. Right now, it was almost unbearable to even be in his presence. "It is something that you will have to work on moving forward. I don't believe that any disciplinary actions are required at the moment. The threat that Indagos presents is definitely motivation enough for you to better yourself. We believe that his target will be you soon enough, if only for the fact that you wear those gauntlets."

With that, she left the room. The soft tap of her heels against the stone floor rang through until the room fell into silence. Aelius slowly sat back down into his seat and took a breath. A small smile started to spread across his face. It quickly fell away when another set of footsteps approached. These were completely unlike Onyx's. Two pairs of boots fell against the granite. Military issue.

"Aelius, we need to talk," Ironwood said as he stepped into the doorway. A soldier from the task force was in his tow. The other man wore a standard specialist uniform, save for a hooded shirt that lay underneath his coat. Two short spears hung on his back, the handles pointed downward in a cross. "It's about what you told me the other day. I believe that you should accompany me."

"I have been doing a little more research into the original weapons that you talked about," Ironwood spoke as Aelius joined them. He led the two throughout the facility. They walked through corridors that looked like Onyx's staff hadn't even seen yet. "From what I have been able to gather, the concrete facts are that the weapons that the story talks about weren't necessarily the original weapons, but the first that could take down Titanic Grimm. Like the Dragon that attacked Beacon."

"Exactly," Aelius agreed. "However I'm guessing that you found something, or more accurately couldn't find something?"

"Yes, there was a smith that created a weapon using each one of the Dust elements," Ironwood frowned. "But as far as I can tell, there's nothing there that matches up with your weapon."

"Very astute," Aelius told him. He raised a hand over his mouth to hide the smile that had started to form. "You see, there's a second part to that story that not many people tend to connect, mostly because neither of the stories really refer to the other. Have you ever heard of 'Erelgen's Folly'?"

"That's a campfire tale at best," Ironwood replied reproachfully.

"Where do you think that most stories used to be told?" Aelius shrugged. "Remember what I said before, if one story is true, then why not the rest? Erelgen, the man who was consumed by Grimm, and became one himself. The knowledge of how he created the gauntlets, or even how the other weapons were forged has since been lost. I don't know if he would even be able to remember if he was alive today.

"Either way. Somehow he managed to infuse the gauntlets with the essence of Grimm. However, they have also become insatiably hungry for aura. It doesn't require any dust to fuel its power, rather it's particular abilities come from the lack of any aura that is provided from the weapon. The shadows that you probably would have seen before consume any aura that they touch until the victim is left without anything left to protect themselves with, or even project their semblance."

"And the gauntlets are what causes the rage which turns you into _that_ ," Ironwood finished.

"Sort of," Aelius replied as they walked into a large open space. It looked to be a second hangar that had fallen into disrepair. The entrances where aircraft should have been able to come through had collapsed completely, and half the room was covered in refuse, as if it had just been carelessly brushed to the side. "The reason why the weapons are so strong is that they have a fragment of the original forgers inside of them. Their presence is still inside each of the weapons, and every time you attempt to use it, they also have a chance to obtain a physical form again."

"That seems like a very high price to pay, even for the amount of power that you and Indagos seem to have gained," Ironwood mused. Aelius walked past him into the centre of the room and spread out his arms into a small shrug.

"So, what is this place?" he asked and looked around at the area. The other soldier stepped forwards as well and drew his weapons. Aelius stepped back warily, and his hands instantly went behind his back to where the claws lay. He didn't draw them instantly, but he kept them close.

"I believe that if you train and practice with the gauntlets, you will be able to overcome the other forces inside of those gauntlets" Ironwood told him. "Don't worry about Ferran here, he's been trusted with information before, and he's the most skilled fighter from the rest of the task force."

"Oh really?" Aelius replied. A dark, shadowy aura started to spread around him as he drew his hands back out from his coat. The light glinted off of the dark metal of the gauntlets. "That's pretty interesting, but I wouldn't necessarily throw around that title so lightly. I'm pretty sure that Hayden at the very least is able to contend, if not take it from him."

"How humble, I thought you would have volunteered yourself for that," Ferran smirked. He twirled the two short spears in his hands and started to circle around Aelius. The other stayed still and closed his eyes. The shadowy aura flattened itself against the ground and started to spread outwards.

"I mean, the fact that I'm stronger than all of you is just a given," Aelius replied with a chuckle. His eyes flashed as he spun around and caught the shaft of the spear inches away from his back. Ferran's face twisted in effort as he tried to push the spear closer. "Well, you're fast, I'll give you that, but you still have a long way to go if you think that you can beat me."

"You look like you're holding together very well," Ironwood observed. He leant against the wall at the far end of the chamber and watched the two as they jumped away from each other. Ferran winced as he looked down and brushed away a strand of darkness from his ankle. Aelius just rolled his neck on his shoulders. He gave a sigh of relief as an audible pop sounded.

"It has been a long time since I've been able to really stretch out like this," Aelius replied. The dark-haired man crouched down a little, then ran forwards. His body was just above the ground as he charged towards Ferran. The metal claws of the gauntlets drew sparks from the ground as they raked across the metal surface. When he reached Ferran, Aelius jumped up and twisted his body in the air to bring his opposite arm down on the man's guard.

Ferran's knees buckled under the surprising amount of strength that Aelius brought. The soldier winced as his knee hit the ground hard. When he looked up at Aelius, there was something that just felt abnormal. Like he didn't belong. The wide grin on his face didn't help the matter either. It was so much different from the animalistic traits that Aelius had shown the task force before. Now it looked like the expressions that he made didn't fit his face.

"You are something else," Ferran grunted as he managed to push Aelius away and dive backwards to avoid the second down swing. He pushed away a claw and started to thrust the other at the dark-haired man's chest. Aelius reached down to block it with the claw. He stopped short when he realised that nothing had hit him. The sound of metal shifting sparked a realisation, and the man dived backwards as several rounds struck his chest and shoulders. "And I mean that literally. What are you?"

"Oh, so you can tell," Aelius replied. He stood up tall and brushed at his coat with the back of his hand. Ferran switched his other spear into its pistol form. The extended seemed to serve as a silencer. Everything about him pointed towards the soldier specialising in attacking from the shadows. He was at a complete disadvantage in this fight. Aelius knew that he couldn't be too reckless, though, he had no idea what the man's semblance could be. "Well, just going out and saying it would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it?"

Aelius rolled as several bullets hit the ground around and behind him. A spark danced along the back of his gauntlet as another bullet ricocheted off of it. Before he could react, Ferran had already launched himself through Aelius' reach. He tried desperately to get away, but Ferran wouldn't let him so much as let an inch get between them. Aelius gritted his teeth as he felt the blades strike against his chest multiple times.

The dark-haired man manoeuvred his arm closer to his chest and managed to grab a hold of Ferran's wrist. He turned around and bodily threw the man over his shoulder. Ferran slammed down onto the ground behind him, his wrist still in Aeilus' grasp. The man winced as shadows started to billow over his form and obscure him completely.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Onyx asked. Her steely gaze swept over the group of officers that had gathered in front of her. A small display cycled through several images in front of her. Each one caused her frown to deepen. "The morale in this place shouldn't be low enough to attract nearly enough Grimm as this."

"Is it because of Aelius?" one of the other officers asked.

"No, the mood wouldn't be brought down enough by that revelation," Onyx replied. The officer shook his head, however.

"No, I mean there was a theory that because that particular weapon was infused with the essence of the Grimm, that the one who bore it shared a connection to them," the officer replied. Onyx leaned forward in her chair and placed her hands on the table.

"Why was I not informed about his particular theory?" she asked coolly. The officers seemed to wither under her gaze. Several of them adjusted their uniforms uncomfortably and looked around at the others. Silently they tried to will another of the group to step forward and speak.

"Well, as I said, it was a theory," another officer stated. It came across as more of a mumble. "The one who proposed it left the organisation long before you took over, and there was no real safe way to test it, so we more or less discarded the idea."

"So you're telling me that nobody thought to tell me of this risk before we started the experimentation with the weapons?" Onyx asked them. The officers flinched as they saw her knuckles whiten as they gripped the edge of the desk. She surveyed them for a moment, then slowly shook her head. "This risk is unacceptable. We cannot allow Aelius to continue using them anymore."

"How should we take them from him?" one of the officers asked. He nervously fidgeted nervously at the idea of confrontation with the Internal Affairs agent. "If we confront him and he doesn't want to give them up, he might turn into that _thing_ again."

"We developed countermeasures against him and we don't have to worry about collateral damage this far out from the city," Onyx replied. "If he doesn't comply with our orders, then we will eliminate him. I trust that none of you have any qualms about the task at hand?" the officers all shook their heads hastily. "Good, you're all dismissed. I'll bring Aelius in here, so be prepared for the worst."

Indagos twirled the sceptre in his hand. He looked down at the group of hooded followers that knelt in front of him with narrowed eyes. The room that they were all in was cold, the soft torches on the wall doing very little to warm the room as the chilly breeze from the snowy landscape outside flowed in.

"So, how do you suppose that they managed to figure out what we were doing?" He mused and leant back against the chair that sat upon the dais. His hand snapped down on the sceptre and it transformed in his hands to the pistol form, with the barrel pointed straight at the group. The all turned their heads away from it in an attempt to allay their nerves of having the weapon pointed at them.

"Sir, I believe that we might have a leak," one of them told him. He was the only one that didn't turn away. Indagos twirled the weapon and transformed it back into the sceptre. He pushed himself up off of the chair and walked down the steps of the dais to stand right in front of the man. The two locked eyes for a few moments. Then Indagos smiled.

"And I suppose that you have an idea of who that might be?" the young man asked of the hooded figure, who nodded and pushed himself to his feet. A moment later, there was an audible _bang_ as his knees hit the ground again. A purple glow surrounded his form. He braced himself against the floor to stop his whole body from crumpling. "You know, I might be young, but there is a reason why I have this weapon and you all do not. I am a prodigy, smarter, stronger, better than all of you in every way. Did you really think that I wouldn't know what you were up to?"

"You knew all along, and yet you brought all of us in here with you alone?" the man hissed between gritted teeth. The rest of the hooded figures slowly stood to their feet and pulled various weapons from underneath their cloaks. Indagos just looked at them through disgusted eyes, as if their attempt to attack him was an affront to his sight. "I think you might be underestimating us, or overestimating yourself."

"I'm not too proud to admit my own arrogance," he told them all as the others fell to their knees as well. He slowly walked back to the dais as the doors burst open and other elite soldiers rushed into the room. "But that attitude is warranted for a reason. I could kill all of you in an instant, and yet I don't even want to waste the dust on your miserable forms. Guards, get them out of my sight and lock them up. Find out how much information they gave away, and retrieve as much as we can back."

The hooded figures were dragged out of the room as they continued to call out at Idagos furiously. Once they were out of earshot, he opened his scroll and activated a function. Around the compound where his troops went about their business, green lights on loudspeakers that were mounted in the walls switched on.

"To all of my loyal troops that have served earnestly, we are going to strike back at those who disrupted our previous operation. We lost a great many troops on that day, but their sacrifice will not go in vain. We will have our vengeance. Prepare your gear, your weapons, and your conscience. There won't be mercy like before. This is not an extraction; this is an extermination." He turned the function off and collapsed the scroll. He gently spun the object on his finger and stared at the door as a smile spread across his face.

"Don't worry little Grimm, I'm coming for you too."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: So this is a lot shorter of a chapter than I would have wanted. I've recently started a new job, and it hasn't left me a lot of time to write, but I just couldn't keep staring at the same words while I was as tired as I was, so I decided to finish of the chapter and start working on the next as quickly as possible. I might come back and revisit it later on, but right now the next chapter is my highest priority,

A bolt of flames slammed into Aelius and threw him away from Ferran. As he flew through the air, the shadows danced around his body and snuffed out the flames and embers that lingered. Aelius rolled sideways into a crouch and looked over to Hayden, who held his cannon up and trained on the leader of his squad. Smoke drifted from the barrel of the weapon lazily, but a low, red glow that emitted from deep in the weapon suggested that there was more where that came from.

"What did you do?" Hayden asked Ironwood coldly. The general was ready with his weapon out as well. It seemed that he had intended to put a stop to the fight as well. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

"I was training him," Ironwood replied evenly. "If he can control that weapon, then he would have nothing to fear from anymore. He would be a free man."

"And what about that looks free?" Hayden roared suddenly. His eyes were furious, and it looked like he would have killed the man if he thought it possible for him. The red-haired Hunter gestured over to where Aelius still sat, crouched, and looked over at the exchange with amusement in his eyes. "And you, what have you done with Aelius?" The man in shadows paused, then the amusement spread to a smile on his face as well.

"I knew I would never be good enough to fool you," he chuckled. Ironwood glanced over in concern and confusion. 'Aelius' lifted himself to his feet and stretched out his back languorously. He broke out into a manic laughter and doubled over. "Do you know how long it has been since I've had control over a body? Let me tell you something, never infuse your soul into anything, you're gonna be sitting around for centuries in display cases."

"No," Ironwood muttered as the realization began to dawn on him. "That has to be impossible."

"Says the man who knows about the four maidens," 'Aelius' snapped back, then covered his mouth with his hand in mock surprise at Ironwood's knee-jerk reaction to snarl. "Oops, was I not supposed to say that around here? Let me tell you something, nothing is impossible in this world. Magic and gods exist, and four relics lie under your academies that influence the whole of the human race. And somewhere there was a talentless child who found out how to gain a greater power than all of his brothers and sisters combined."

"Erelgen, I guess," Hayden spoke cautiously. He sized up his opponent warily. Now that the man didn't care about hiding his presence at all, the shadows that drifted around his body had become thicker to develop into a cloak. Only his face was visible anymore, and that twisted smile and cruel eyes only served to drive Hayden into a fury.

"Pleased to meet you," Erelgen smiled smugly. "You know it was so hard not to talk to you three and just scream out to the world that I was free again on the ride back. And don't you worry little Jimmy, you weren't the cause of this. If you want someone to blame, that bitch Onyx would be a better target. But I do intend to pay her a visit after I'm done here."

"Don't worry, I knew that something was wrong right away," Hayden replied and turned his weapon back into its voulge form. "You might be able to act like Aelius, but you have no chance of trying to fool me when I've known him for so long." Erelgen gave out a short, bark of laughter and flashed Hayden a grin.

"I suppose you always did pay the most attention to him."

"Take the left side, I'll take the right," Ironwood told Hayden as he started to step forwards. "This has gone on for too long. After we take him down, I'll speak to Onyx and get to the bottom of all of this mess."

"Oh, no, you won't be taking another step closer," Erelgen called over to Ironwood. He stepped forwards and planted his foot square on Ferran's chest. "I've already consumed enough of his aura to take kill him in a single strike. No, see I'm going to walk out of here and be a free man again, and neither of you are going to see me again."

"What makes you think that I'll stand down?" Hayden asked as he continued forwards. His eyes were dark as he looked down slightly at Erelgen. His face was grim as he looked at the man who looked exactly like his best friend. "I couldn't care less about that man. I couldn't even care if Ironwood kicked me out of Atlas for what I'm going to do next. I'm going to get my friend back."

"Are you kidding me?" Erelgen laughed. He almost doubled over, then rolled his head back and stretched again. He enjoyed having a physical form again. "I could defeat you without even moving a muscle. See, I've figured you out, you care way too much, you could not lay a finger on someone that you care so much for."

Hayden dashed forwards towards Erelgen and swung the voulge around himself. He stopped a few feet before Erelgen and thrusted the blade deep into the darkness that surrounded the man. Erelgen froze and looked down at the blade in surprise, then looked back up at Hayden with a cocked head.

"I care for him so much that I would never allow an atrocity like you to live," Hayden growled. He blinked away the tears that had started to form in his eyes. They would start to inhibit his ability to fight against Erelgen. "If there's nothing I can do to get you out of his body, then there's zero possibility for you to live a free life."

Erelgen sighed and stepped forwards and lifted his arm to push the blade away from his side. The shadows started to lick at Hayden's legs. He jumped back and gave a small growl as he could feel the aura drain away the moment they touched him. He turned his weapon back into the cannon form and lit the area up in front of him.

"Stop, if you're not careful, you're going to hit Ferran," Ironwood warned Hayden but the red-haired man turned back to him with fury in his eyes.

"What do you think I just said?" he demanded, then jumped backwards as Erelgen dove out of the flames, the shadows around his body shielding his form from the elements. Hayden fired another gout of flame at Erelgen as the two danced around the open area. Ironwood stayed down for a few moments, then dove towards Ferran once the fighting had moved a little more to the side.

"Please, don't think that I'm ignoring you," Erelgen called over to Ironwood, and just as quickly as the combat moved away, the general dived to the side to avoid a burst of fire. Erelgen skipped over him and sent a lash of shadows back at the two. Hayden scorched the ground in front of him as he moved. The fire withered the shadows and burnt them away.

Ironwood wasn't as fortunate. He felt the darkness eat away at his aura and start to exhaust him. The closer that he got to Ferran, the more the weariness set in. It felt like it took minutes for him to reach the man, though he knew it to be only seconds. The sounds of fire and flames tearing through the place made him grit his teeth. Every moment longer that he spent in the battlefield, the shadows caused his aura to ebb away, and the closer he came to receiving some real damage.

"Stay still!" Hayden roared as he lifted the cannon up and fired a solid shot. Erelgen's eyes widened and he darted out of the way as the colossal explosion made the whole room rock. Some of the wreckage in the ceiling came loose and fell near Ironwood. Hayden fired several more shots at Erelgen which made the ground shake with each detonation.

A sudden silence filled the air as the two stared at each other. Ironwood looked up from where he had knelt over the fallen form of Ferran to protect him. A smile slowly spread across Erelgen's face as he started to walk forwards again.

"See, that's where you always seem to fall down," he commented as he approached. Hayden's face twisted in annoyance as he turned his weapon back into its voulge form and began to back away. "You're terrifying while you've got your hands on some dust, but when that runs out, all you've got left is a little stick that you wave around wildly."

"I think you'll find that I'm still pretty good at swinging this thing around," Hayden snapped and charged forwards. The two met halfway in an awkward clash of metal on metal. Hayden gritted his teeth as he struggled not to let his arms fail and fold under the pressure while Erelgen looked up at him from his lowered position with an arrogant grin.

"You'll never be better than me, though," he snickered and pushed upwards. Hayden stumbled, off balance, and swung the polearm around to keep Erelgen away while he caught himself. The dark-haired man ducked around the side of the staff and drove a knee into Hayden's chest. Erelgen kept up the onslaught of attacks, and didn't allow the other a break.

Ironwood looked up from where he had dragged Ferran to see Hayden pushed to the ground by Erelgen. Hayden just managed to raise his voulge to stop the claws from digging into him, but wasn't able to stop himself from being battered to the floor. The voulge skittered out of his reach across the tiles. The shadows climbed across his skin and began to drain away his aura.

"Stop, I'm only going to tell you once," Ironwood yelled out and raised his revolver. Erelgen only gave a small glance at him and sneered. Ironwood's eyes narrowed, and he pulled the trigger. Several shots rang out. Each and every one of them sank into the darkness of Erelgen's shadows. All Ironwood could do was look on in horror as Erelgen turned back to Hayden and raised the claws once again.

Seconds passed as the occupants of the room remained still. Ironwood had to blink to make sure that he wasn't somehow frozen in time. Slowly, Erelgen's hand lowered back down, and he looked at it in annoyance. The shadows retreated back around his form and formed into a ragged looking coat which billowed out despite the lack of wind.

"It looks like I haven't managed to completely occupy this body yet," he frowned, then rolled his shoulders back and heaved a great sigh. "Now I'm starting to understand why it's so damn annoying to have a voice in your head that's constantly telling you what to do, or in this case what not to." His gaze snapped over to Ironwood, who finished reloading his revolver and held it up again. "You're welcome to try again if you want, but I would personally recommend against wasting your ammunition, you'll need it for the next part."

"Just don't hurt the soldiers in this base," Ironwood told Erelgen grimly. "I might not be able to do anything now, but if you don't want the whole might of the Atlas military to bear down on you, choose your next actions very carefully." Erelgen gave out a mad cackle of laughter.

"You don't have to worry about me killing any of your precious little toy soldiers," Erelgen smiled cruelly as he stepped away from Hayden's fallen form and out to the entrance to the room. "I'll just be taking my meal from them, and once I've done that, I'll move on to the next town. What you should be a little more worried about is my own pets that have decided to help me out. I don't usually pay enough attention to know what the place looks like after they've been through, but without any aura. Well. Good luck."

And with that, Erelgen left the three of them.


	10. Chapter 10

"I hate this place," one of the soldiers muttered to his companion. The two stood in the hallway of the facility, just on the fringe of the repaired area. He jiggled his legs anxiously as he glanced out into the dark. He knew that there couldn't be anything out there, but soldiers were trained to be wary of the unknown, and there was something about that oppressive darkness that dug into his soul.

"The captain said that we were only going to be here for another week or so," the other soldier replied. He was a lot calmer, and sat with his back against the wall and his hands behind his head. The medals on his chest told that he had served in the military a lot longer than the other. "Just one or two more operations, if the task force actually does their job properly, and we're back in the city."

"Did you hear something?" the first soldier asked suddenly. He threw a worried glance towards the darkness. A faint, rasping sound echoed out from the shadows. He peered into the impenetrable void ahead and squinted as the sound started to draw closer.

"What the-," the other gasped as he reached for his weapon and jumped to his feet. The sound of whistling softly floated through the halls, a cheery, yet eerie tune. They couldn't place exactly where it came from, more like it was an amalgamation of several songs from their childhood all at once. "Who's there? Answer us now, or we will fire!"

The whistling and the rasping stopped as quickly as it had started. The two soldiers glanced at each other nervously, then the first began to slowly step towards the sound and flicked a torch attached to his rifle on. The beam swept down the hallway. It looked clear. He sighed and turned to look back to the other guard to shrug, but the look of sudden terror on his face made the first guard look back.

Several tendrils of shadow leapt forwards and slammed into the guard. He fell onto his back and reached desperately for his gun as it skittered along the ground away from him. Humming started to sound out this time, much closer. The guard could hear the steps approaching as he backed away.

A loud bang over his head made him cower. The other soldier stood over him and fired into the shadows. Each shot tore through the veil of smoky black, only for it to reform a moment later and snap towards him. He ducked out of the way and hit the wall, hard. The soldier braced himself against it and continued to fire.

"What are you waiting for? Get help!" the soldier roared. The man on the ground shakily nodded as he scrambled to his feet, only for a tendril of shadow to grip his ankle and drag him screaming into the dark mist. A loud thump sounded, then silence. The other soldier shook his head and turned to run away, but as he took the first step, each movement grew increasingly laborious. He fell to his knees as the shadows billowed over his form. His hand hit the ground in front of him, and he finally, completely, disappeared from sight.

The humming continued as the roiling shadows filled the hallway.

"Ma'am, the Grimm have started to attack," a soldier yelled out. He burst into Onyx's office, breathless. She looked up from her paperwork calmly and examined the exhausted man. There was no sign of ulterior motives, he was genuinely terrified.

"Show me," she replied finally. He placed a device on her desk that projected an image of the various Grimm tearing at doors to the hangar. It didn't look like they had made much progress, but it was never wise to underestimate a Grimm. "Get the task force down there. Open the doors so they don't damage the defences too much, but make sure that they push the Grimm outside, we can't have them wreak havoc all over the facility."

"Yes ma'am," the soldier saluted. He reached for the device just as it switched to another screen. The both of them froze, white faced, as they watched the smoky darkness wander through the halls of the facility. A group of soldiers ran towards it and opened fire, but they couldn't even make Erelgen slow in his pace.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" Onyx asked grimly. She looked up at the soldier with deadly eyes. On the screen, the shadow passed by. The soldiers had all fallen to the ground, none had the strength to move. The soldier in front of her shook as he withdrew his hand and looked at the screen in horror.

"I swear, this is the first that I've seen of this," he told her, terrified. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the image in front of him. "I-Is it just me, or does it look like he's headed this way?" Onyx curled her fingers into a fist and stood up abruptly.

"Leave," she told him curtly. The soldier just saluted and ran from the room. He didn't even bother to try and pack up the projector. Silence once again took the room as she stared down at the image. It flickered through the different hallways as Erelgen approached, until the ancient humming drifted down through the hall and into the room.

Onyx sat back down in her chair and took a deep breath as she looked up at the entranceway. Small wisps of shadow drifted through the door. Then a claw grasped the frame of the door. Erelgen pulled himself into the room and looked down at Onyx with a gleeful grin on his face.

"Hello there, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Erelgen mused. The man looked around for a moment, then grabbed a chair and pulled it in front of Onyx's desk. He sat down in front of her and drummed his fingers against the metal table.

"If by a while you mean a few hours, then yes," Onyx replied calmly. One of her eyes twitched as a tendril of shadows drifted over the top of the table to reach towards her. "There's no need to be dramatic, Aelius. You might have gained control of that weapon, but that means nothing compared to the military might of Atlas."

Erelgen started laughing, his shoulders shook with mirth.

"Aelius has nothing to do with this," he told her between fits of laughter. The moment he said those words, the realisation clicked in her head. She pulled out a pistol from underneath the desk and aimed it square at the centre of his forehead. Just as quickly, Erelgen grabbed her hand dragged her forwards over the desk to place the cold metal against his forehead.

"Come on, do it," he urged her. The eager glint in his eyes made her hesitate for a moment. Erelgen saw it in her eyes and tossed her arm away. The instant he let go, she recoiled in her chair, but maintained the aim at him as some small comfort. He looked down at her in disgust. "You know, all of those years that I spent in that lab, watching, waiting… hungering."

"You don't scare me," Onyx replied in a hoarse, whispered voice. Erelgen glanced down at her hand as it shook, then glanced back up at her and shook his head in derision.

"I am one of the most terrifying creatures in existence," Erelgen told her. The shadows coalesced around the two of them, trapping the two in their own world, no information from outside the walls of darkness could make it through. He extended one of his clawed fingers towards her. A wisp of shadow danced along his hand and formed into a tiny, monstrous head that snapped its jaw closed right in front of her face. "If you weren't scared, I would think that you're an idiot, though with what you have done and messed around with, I'm tempted to call you one anyway. Now I'm going to kill you in a moment, and don't try to beg, I've heard a lot of begging over the last half an hour, and it's started to get a little tiring. But I want to know one, last thing. Was it worth it, all you have done to everyone you have toyed with?"

"I served my country, whatever the consequences that may fall on me, I take solace in knowing that Atlas will survive and that we will persevere to become the greatest nation in the world," Onyx replied. She lifted her chin proudly and looked up at Erelgen, who tilted his head for a moment, then smiled. A cruel, little smile.

"Then I will take all of that from you," he grinned. "I will take apart this country that you believe to have bettered. The one mistake you made will undo all of the twisted good that you have done. You will die knowing that you have destroyed Atlas, because for all of the supposed power that you keep maintaining Atlas has, take a look at what it has done for you."

Onyx glanced down at the projector to see the cameras flick through the images of fallen Atlas soldiers. Every image was new and showed a different group that had fallen. As they passed by, she couldn't help but think of the number of defeated soldiers that steadily grew. Erelgen's threat became more and more realistic. She looked back up at his growing, manic grin. The shadows crashed down around them.

The Huntsmen gathered around the entrance to the facility. They listened to the constant smashes and booms of the Grimm as the tore at the walls in their desperation to make their way inside. Soldiers started to line up behind the warriors and trained their weapons on the doors as well.

"Where are Aelius and Hayden when we need them?" Tuilen grumbled as he readied his weapon. He would never tell it to his brother's face, but he felt uncomfortable going into battle without him. Half of it was because of their semblance, the other half was that he couldn't bring himself to trust any of the other Huntsmen or Huntresses. They already treated them with suspicion when they entered the military, and when they became part of the Internal Affairs squad, hat suspicion only compounded.

"I'm pretty sure Hayden said something about needing to check up on Aelius, but I haven't seen either of them since we got back, pretty much," Laure replied over the communicator. She and a few others started to set up their long-distance weapons on a balcony at the back of the room. She zeroed in her sights on the hangar doors and relaxed against the wall while she waited.

"Something's wrong," Tuilen shook his head as he finished loading his weapon and knelt down to brace it easier. "Ever since he got back from the mission, something about Aelius hasn't felt quite right."

"He's changed, and I don't mean just now, but over the past few years," Laure told him. She sighed and placed her head against the wall behind her. "It's getting harder and harder to recognise him, and it scares me. I don't know how long it will take for him to become someone else entirely."

"Don't worry, we'll fix him," Tuilen reassured her. "I've been trying to research exactly what is happening to Aelius, and how we can help him. I've come across a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense, and I really believe that there is something in this world that can change him back to the way he was. I just need to find it."

Their conversation was cut short by sudden blare of sirens as they came to life. Several lights swept across the room from the warning beacons. All of the people in the room tensed up as the hangar doors slowly began to open. A hand poked through the growing hole, and was instantly torn to pieces from the large amount of shots that poured into it. Both Laure and Tuilen bided their time.

Once the door had opened enough for the medium sized Grimm to charge, a mass of dark bodies surged through the gap. The Grimm looked to be in a frenzy to reach the Huntsmen, but they struggled to make it halfway to them. Every warrior in the room began to slowly march forwards as they unloaded their weapons on the beasts. They paused only when the Grimm were within ten feet of them.

Tuilen raised his cannon and aimed carefully. As soon as he spotted a gap in the wall of bodies, his finger tightened on the trigger. A glowing, blue round sailed through the air and slipped in between the Grimm until it was out of sight. A moment later, a loud detonation sounded, and a chilling mist enveloped the area.

The flow of Grimm slowed slightly. Tuilen noted with satisfaction that a large chunk of ice had appeared in the centre of the mist. A multitude of Grimm were either trapped completely, or tore at the frozen water to free their limbs.

Tuilen extended his cannon out into the voulge and charged forwards into the thinned crowd of Grimm. Several other Huntsmen followed close behind. They formed into a conical shape as they speared into the Grimm. Even the larger beasts were pushed back slightly from the force of the charge.

Tuilen calmly ducked his head to the side. A rush of wind passed by from Laure's bullet. The two had practiced together long enough to know exactly how they were supposed to fight together. Tuilen muttered under his breath softly. Every couple of seconds he ducked again. Laure watched from afar. Every space he gave, she sunk a bullet into.

An Ursa charged forwards and knocked a careless Huntsman aside. The crowd almost seemed to part for it as it made its way towards Tuilen. The monster raised its claw up high and leapt through the air towards him. Before it could even reach down towards him, though, Laure's bullet passed right through the centre of the paw and caused it to recoil in pain. The creature sailed through the air right past Tuilen and slid to a halt in a mass of dark bodies.

It almost seemed as if the swarm of Grimm were about to be pushed back. Their numbers were evenly matched with the Huntsmen and Huntresses skill. A cry from behind him caught Tuilen's attention in his peripheral. A huntsman fell to the ground, pinned by a beowolf. The huntsman gritted his teeth as he pushed the snarling jaws away from his face. A sudden look of shock came over him. The Grimm started to win the fight.

The bottom half of the Huntsman's body that touched the floor was covered in shadow, a darkness that slowly crept up his skin to consume his form. Tuilen whirled his body around. His voulge tore through a beowolf's neck as he flourished the weapon to hold it behind his body. A wave of dark shadows swept through the hangar. Tuilen could instantly feel the drain start on his body.

Erelgen walked into the hangar, not far behind his shadows. He held his hands behind his back as he walked, and surveyed the battle before him with a satisfied smirk. Tuilen knew instantly that that expression would never have fit on the face of his friend. It felt like all of his suspicions had been confirmed.

"Who are you?" he demanded angrily. "What have you done to my friend?"

"If I've answered these questions once, then I've done it a hundred times," Erelgen sighed with a frown. "I at least know that you won't be stupid enough to attack me. Without your brother, you're just some talented bookworm. If he couldn't defeat me, then you should know that you don't stand even a possibility."

"What did you do to my brother?" Tuilen growled. He steadily began to walk towards Erelgen and flourished his blade to hold it by his side. Up on the catwalks, Laure listened in to the conversation through her earpiece, and moved to reposition herself in sight. Erelgen looked at the brown-haired man and gave a sigh.

"hmm, seems like I've been giving the human race a little too much credit with their intelligence," he muttered under his breath. He started to walk forwards as well, and matched Tuilen's pace. "One of these days I'm going to figure out how exactly we managed to slide back into the dark ages of stupidity."

Tuilen gave a roar as he charged forwards. A few feet from Erelgen, he rolled to the side. A sniper shot hit the dark man in the shoulder and he stumbled back a little in surprise. The shadows around him grew a little tighter. Several other Hunstman sprang forwards from the chaotic combat with the Grimm. He grabbed the first by the face and slammed him into the ground, then knocked two more away with a swipe of his claw.

A slash from behind sent Erelgen forwards, and the shadows to withdraw a little more from around the room. He clawed behind him in reaction, but his bladed fingers found nothing to grasp onto. The shadowed being whirled around in frustration, but he could not catch even a glimpse of Tuilen. Another sniper shot sent him reeling.

"That is it," Erelgen roared. His eyes flashed as he turned to Laure and sprinted forwards on all fours. Like a dark blur, he deftly wove through the battlefield, and took several Huntsman and Huntresses out as he moved. He jumped on the back of a Death Stalker and spiralled his way up its tail to leap off and land heavily on the railing in front of the Sniper. The thin metal folded slightly under his weight. "I am done with these little thorns in my side."

The metal glinted in the artificial light as he raised his hand up high. Laure merely looked at him. She showed no emotion, and didn't flinch from the threatened strike at all. Erelgen stared down at her, his arm trembled from its position, half out of tiredness, the other from his desperation to move, but the inability to do so.

"For all your talk of us being unable to harm you, you're doing a surprisingly bad job of killing us," Laure told him. She calmly reloaded her sniper rifle right in front of him, then raised the barrel to point directly at his forehead. Her form lit up in a green glow, and surrounded the cartridge as well. Erelgen closed his eyes and seemed to relax. "It was good to see you again, Aelius."

"NO," Erelgen snapped suddenly, he knocked the rifle to the side suddenly and jumped backwards off the railing. He wasn't able to completely dodge out of the way of the bullet, though, and he could feel a wound open up right next to his left eye and above his ear. The shadowed man landed on his feet and looked back up at the catwalk with a snarl. "Get out of my head, stop fighting back!"

He heard a deep growl and turned behind to see an ursa rear its legs in front of him and raise its paw up high. It took him a moment to realise that the swipe was aimed at him. Erelgen braced himself for the attack, but as a loud shot rang out, the ursa fell to the ground in front of him. Behind it, a hundred feet back, stood Indagos.

The purple clad soldiers steadily marched forwards and mopped up the Grimm that had managed to tie up the Atlesian force. A few of the Huntsmen and Huntresses started to charge forwards towards the new wave of enemies. They were instantly pinned down from the immense amount of firepower that turned their way. Erelgen turned to face the newcomers with a snarl on his face.

"Every single time, something gets in the way," he sighed in annoyance. The shadowy warrior gave a brief glance back up to Laure, then huffed and began to march over to Indagos. "This time I'll break your weapon so that you won't interfere in any more affairs."

"There you are, little Grimm," Indagos called out. Half of the battlefield seemed to freeze at his words and turn their attention to him. For the first time, Indagos looked a little uncertain at the situation around him.

"Alright, I'm all for theatrics and all of that, but are you kidding me?" Erelgen laughed. "First of all, you do realise that I am an ancient being, right? The other soul residing in your body should have clued you into that much at the very least. Second of all, I'm pretty sure that you're younger than the biological age of this body as well. Little Grimm? No, you're the child here, playing with forces that are way over your head, and thinking that you can sit at the big boy's table."

Erelgen's boot slammed down on a fallen Huntress' back as he crossed the battlefield towards the other. A wounded Grimm reached out for him, only to have its form swallowed by the wave of darkness that followed the warrior. When the tide ebbed away, there was nothing of the creature left. The shadows formed up around Erelgen to form a ragged cloak of pitch-black darkness.

All Indagos could see of Ereglen's face was the manic grin out from the shadows under the hood.


	11. Chapter 11

"I might be showy, but I'm not an idiot," Indagos called out and raised his hand. Instantly every single purple uniformed soldier in the room turned their weapons to Erelgen and pulled their triggers. To his credit, Erelgen managed to dodge the first few bullets, and let the shadowy force around him block a few more. Tendrils whipped up and batted away a few of the bullets, but just as soon as they had formed, they were torn to pieces by the sheer hail of metal that rained down on him.

The shadowy, cloaked form of Erelgen fell to the ground, unmoving. That didn't mean that the soldiers stopped firing at all, though. Tuilen and Laure looked on in horror as the metal all around the man sparked from the bullets and the remaining shadows that lingered on the ground bled into the air. As conflicted as they were with the situation, they will the person they had held dear to stand back up. Eventually the soldiers ceased their fire, but they continued to aim down at the man.

Erelgen pulled himself up from the ground and charged forwards again with an animalistic howl. He slid to a halt when he noticed that none of the soldiers continued to fire at him. In fact, none of them moved at all. He whipped around to see a young man with chestnut walk towards him with a small smile on his face.

"You're a hard man to get a hold of," Aelius told him. Erelgen snarled and cloaked himself in shadows to hide the old and decrepit face that had shown in the world that only the two of them shared. The colours of the surroundings had faded to a dull grey. Only Aelius and Erelgen's forms retained their chroma.

"How are you here?" Erelgen demanded in a raspy voice. "You're supposed to have been destroyed when you first came into contact… actually this puts a few things into light. So, this is the reason that you've managed to keep being a thorn in my side, despite all my efforts to get you out of my head."

"First off, my head," Aelius corrected him. He sat down on the body of a Grimm that had not yet dissipated. Nothing in this world moved, or could be acted upon. Even their host body laid unmoving only a few feet away, "And second, you have been a constant frustration over the past few years. I have been dying for so long to tell you to quit trying to control me. So long as I remain, you won't beat me. You are nothing compared to someone with an actual soul. I've managed to keep you topped up today, but even I'm getting tired of healing your wounds."

"Well it looks like it might take a little bit more than just your average aura to heal that mess," Erelgen sighed. He wandered back over to the body and inspected the various marks that the bullets had left on the armour. The cloaked figure tutted as he came across a fresh batch of wounds that he hadn't noticed before. "And I was just starting to like that skin as well."

"Well, thanks for messing up my body," Aelius grumbled. The brown-haired man walked over to stand behind Erelgen. "But don't think that you're getting away so easily. I risked my life to try and get in contact with you, and we're going to hammer this whole thing out here and now."

"What is there left to talk about?" Erelgen asked. His voice made Aelius wince. It sounded like his throat had seen the rough side of a grater, several times over. "I don't think you're going to make it much longer than here, and it's not like I don't have an eternity to wait until the next idiot who comes along and decides to try and see if he can test my power."

"Well, I don't entirely agree with that plan," Aelius frowned. He knelt down next to his body and traced a hand along the bracelet around his wrist. He paused to collect himself, then turned and looked up at Erelgen. "I kind of like being alive, and I'm sure that you don't want anyone to remember this as the time that you got your ass kicked by just one of the other Smiths. If you're willing to listen to me, I might be able to get us out of this, intact."

"I don't like to lose," Erelgen admitted. He glanced back at where Indagos stood, a triumphant smirk on his face. "I especially don't want to lose to him." The cloaked figure slowly made his way over to Indagos and stared at the man directly in the eye as he deliberated, then made a sound of disgust. "Alright, what are you thinking?"

"A proposal of trust," Aelius told him. The Erelgen's hood twitched slightly as he cocked his head to the side. "You trust me to let you out from time to time to play, but I keep main control of the body. In return, I'll get out of your way, so that only one soul is present in the body." Erelgen looked at him in surprise.

"Well, I can't say that I expected you to allow me such freedoms given what you've found out about me," the cloaked figure chuckled. He swept forwards and grasped Aelius' lapels. The other leaned away from the hood. As Erelgen had drawn closer, the shadows hadn't obscured as much of the ancient Smith's face than he would have liked.

"Don't forget that I'm still in control," Aelius thundered. He turned the tables on Erelgen in an instant. The cloaked figure grunted in surprise as the young man threw him to the side and appeared to tower over him. Erelgen scrabbled to his feet. "I haven't grown weak with time, and you can't push me around in here. I'm done with playing the part of the small child, pretending to appear weak in front of my friends. It's time for you to make a choice, to share, or fall into disrepair."

"And here I thought you were an open book," Erelgen snarled. He brushed himself off and rolled his neck. Several cracking sounds emerged from the shadows of the hood. "I'll commend you for that, using your own body as bait was a risky move, what would you have done if I had been stronger and you were unable to take it back?"

"Well, you saw it," Aelius shrugged and gestured down to the fallen form. "All I could do was sit back and shout a few words from time to time, but it was still enough to get us here, and now. So, if you could kindly stop delaying your decision, I want to get the both of us out of this mess."

"Fine, I'll help you, but don't forget that I haven't had freedom in years, I won't be tied down in this muck of a nation hunting down a few people who betrayed this pitiful country," Erelgen growled. Both he and Aelius walked towards each other to meet in the middle of the hangar. "I want to see the world again, what has changed, what has remained. I want to enjoy the time that you will give me."

"I can't promise anything, but the more that you help me, the more that I'll help you," Aelius replied. Erelgen growled indecisively again, then huffed and held out a shrouded hand. "Oh, and one more thing, I'm going to be finishing this fight. You might want to run free in the world, but I haven't had one single uninhibited fight since I started using the claws. That kid has pissed me off, and I'm going to look forward to showing him what a real Hunstman looks like."

Aelius grasped Erelgen's hand. He gave one final look at his body, then sighed and stretched his back. He couldn't hide the fact that he was nervous about what was going to happen. It was a decision that couldn't be reversed. Once he had taken a hold of Erelgen's hand, both of their fates had been sealed.

Tendrils of shadow leapt out from Erelgen's cloak and punched into Aelius. He stepped his back foot out a little to maintain his balance. The brown-haired man gritted his teeth as he felt the draining start. The brown-haired man looked up at Erelgen as the cloaked figured stepped forwards, the cloak shifting and warping to open and show a dark cavity where his body was supposed to be. Erelgen was empty, a void that could never be filled.

Shadows crept out from the body of Aelius' fallen form. In a hearbeat, they had formed into a shadowy creature that charged forwards towards the purple garbed soldiers. They levelled their weapons in a hurry and opened fire on the monster in fright. Their bullets just tore through the shadowy form. Small wisps of the arcane material trailed off after the bullets exited and dissipated into the air. The creature didn't slow until it reached the group of shoulders, then vanished into a cloud of shadows that coated them in the same strange material.

"No, you idiots, he's up there!" Indagos shouted and gestured at a catwalk railing. Aelius had used the distraction to reposition himself where he could see every single one of the enemy soldiers. His hands were behind his back under the coat. They made small movements, as if he was adjusting something. "Quickly, shoot him before he regains his strength."

With a sudden defined movement, and a click that was inaudible to the soldiers, the grin on Aelius' face widened. It wasn't the same manic grin that had decorated his features before, but one of genuine excitement and mischief. It didn't look like he viewed them as opponents at all, rather he acted as if it was all a game to him.

Aelius drew both his arms out in an arc. Indagos' eyes widened and he began to charge his aura to shield himself. The rest of the soldiers could only watch in shock at the bullet loops that were attached to each of the gauntlets. A double-barrelled machine gun was mounted on each, and looked to have extended from a different coloured part of the gauntlet. The whole room turned into a flurry of bullets as he opened fire on the encroaching force.

The soldiers cried out as they were struck by the bullets, and gave further cries of shock and fright when they noticed the dark, shadowy strings that now connected them to the dark cloak that Aelius wore. The firing continued for another thirty seconds until the chain of bullets finally ended and a repeated click of the gun's chambers having been emptied echoed out across the room.

Indagos snarled. He swept his sceptre across his body to clear the few strings that had hit him, then swept a sharp gaze over his troops. The majority of them were visibly exhausted, and the ones that had managed to avoid the hail of bullets looked up at Aelius in horror. He looked down triumphantly from his perch.

The cloak that had covered him before was just as ragged, but it was fitted underneath his armour neatly. The hood no longer masked his features and hung limply at the back of his neck. Indagos' face scrunched into a sour expression as he looked at the sight bitterly. On the other hand, Tuilen and Laure were just dumbstruck. They saw their friend in front of them, but he was different somehow, and they weren't sure if it was for the better or not.

"So you managed to strike an accord with him," Indagos called out. His aura condensed once more into the coat. Indagos adjusted the collar of the coat into a more comfortable position. He walked forwards, unafraid. The steel floor groaned with every step, and a faint impression of his foot could be seen in the metal panelling. "I've got to congratulate you on managing at least that much, I've never heard of the monster compromising with anyone before."

"Well, I suppose it was just my fabulous charms that made him agree to it," Aelius grinned cheekily, he let out a loud whoop and jumped down to the floor. "Do you know how good I feel right now? It's like a headache I've had over the past four years has just vanished, and even more than that, I can feel the energy from him making me stronger, I have to admit that I missed this."

"You are so despicable," Indagos spat in disgust. He looked at Aelius like he was a disease. "To give up all that you had, just to chase the power of that creature, you must be weaker than I thought you were. And to think that I once respected you."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Aelius laughed. He didn't even take offense at Indagos' comments. He could imagine what it would have looked like to the man. "You know, if you stopped worshipping these people as gods, you would have a much wider perspective on the world, and realise that there are a lot more forces at play than even your organisation can see."

"We see what we need to," Indagos replied defensively. "We will save the world, and restore it to the glory it once was before the Grimm. The first step to that is to seal those claws away for all eternity."

"And you almost gave up to let yourself be taken by them," Aelius thought to himself. He heard an annoyed growl reverberate within his mind, and couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, which drew an even more frustrated look from Indagos.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N this will be the final chapter for now while I move onto other projects that have been on the back burner. I'm not completely certain when I'll come back to it, but when I do, I will almost definitely do an overhaul of the chapters already posted, just to try and polish them a little. It's definitely been refreshing, not needing to edit the chapter before I post it, but it will be even more refreshing to work on something new and (mostly) original.

Aelius dodged to the side as a streak of purple light shot past him. He could only spare a single glance behind, to where Indagos' round had broken through several walls. Several wisps of the cloak were drawn to the trail, where they gently circled around it and followed the spin of the round. Aelius caught his footing again and continued his mad dash towards the purple cloaked warrior.

He jumped up as another round hit where he had stood only a moment before. The ground erupted in a cloud of violet smoke and debris was sent spinning across the room to hit even the huntsmen and huntresses in the back. Aelius grimaced as he sailed forwards and noticed the triumphant grin on Indagos' face. In response, he let two shadowy creatures burst forth which took a similar shape to Erelgen's form earlier.

The new creatures roared silently, then continued his charge towards Indagos, faster than he ever could have. The other man spat on the ground and counter charged them. He ducked under the swing of one and struck it in the head. The blow made it disappear into a cloud of shadow and drift across the battlefield. The other clawed the back of his leg.

While their blows weren't able to deal any physical damage, Indagos could still feel the pain from them as his aura drained at the touch. He winced and exhaled sharply. The purple clad warrior shifted his weapon back into its pistol from and aimed it behind him without even looking. The blast from the weapon tore through the creature and it exploded into a second cloud of shadow.

Indagos turned his attention back to Aelius, but as his eyes scanned the battlefield, no sight of the dark-haired man came to him. The leader of the encroaching force lowered his stance and kept a wary eye. Aelius could be anywhere. With his animalistic sprint, he could have charged across the whole battlefield by now. Indagos' eye suddenly widened, and he turned behind him to see Aelius just finishing his emergence from the farther cloud of shadow towards his troops.

"Sorry, just got to borrow your Aura for a moment," Aelius told one of the soldiers that cowered in front of him as he took a hold of the man's face. His cloak whipped forwards and wrapped itself around the chest of the man. They both fell to their knees just out of sight of Indagos, safe from his ranged power.

Aelius felt the ground shake nearby and a shower of metal shards and dirt rained down on the both of them. He frowned. Maybe not so safe after all. If Indagos couldn't see them, then he would just destroy their cover slowly, methodically, until there was nothing left to hide behind. Aelius also got the feeling that using the purple garbed troops as cover wouldn't work too well either.

"I'll get to you in a second," Aelius called back as he discarded the now drained and weakened body of the soldier. "Just you wait patiently there while I take care of some of your henchmen, you wouldn't want to hit any of them while they don't have any aura by accident, would you?" There was a brief moment of silence, then another boom close by that signalled Indagos' persistence. Aelius sighed and jumped back into sight.

"I will destroy you, and take those claws back to the rest of the organisation," Indagos sighed. Aelius rolled his eyes at the man as he continued to walk sideways with his hands in the air. He couldn't risk Indagos taking a pot shot and hitting the man he had just drained by accident. Neither of them would benefit from that, and it would get rather messy with the rounds that Indagos used.

"Look, you've said that quite a few times already," Aelius replied. A small smile tweaked at the corners of his mouth as he looked at the weapon that was squarely pointed at him. "That being said, you haven't really done too much to back up your words yet, have you? So far as I can see, you're more bark than bite, and I'm pretty sure that Erelgen was squarely kicking your ass on the train before you ran with your tails between your legs."

Indagos growled unintelligibly and fired his weapon. Aelius neatly ducked to the side and watched the purple, glowing round whoosh past and over the heads of a couple of Indagos' men. Soldiers from both sides had run to take cover from the fight out of fear that they would be hit by the stray bullets.

"Stop talking and start fighting!" Indagos snapped at Aelius. "That's all you have done since you gave up, just run away from everything and cower in fear. Well, now that the power you so desired is in your hands, I can safely say that I'm not impressed. You haven't changed at all, all you can do is run."

"Look, I might not be the most powerful person here, but I'm also not an idiot," Aelius called back. "You can goad me all you want, but I'm not going to just run straight at you and let myself be shot to pieces again. And besides, you talk pretty big for someone who hasn't moved an inch since the start of the fight."

Aelius' eyes scanned around the battlefield for something he could use as cover, but despite the damage that the room had taken, there was barely anything for him to take cover behind. He needed to figure out a way to reduce the effectiveness of Indagos' ability. He knew what the man was capable of, and how much of a risk he could be if approached directly.

The two of them watched each other closely. They waited for their opponent to make a single move, a single, predictable, exploitable mistake. Aelius' eyes narrowed, as if he had spotted something. Indagos' blood ran cold as he ran through everything that he could have done wrong. Something didn't add up, he just couldn't work out what Aelius was so happy about.

In this moment of indecision and insecurity, Aelius charged forwards. He easily dodged the round that Indagos fired in self-defence as the latter settled into a defensive stance. A claw flashed in front of the purple clad warrior's face. Aelius followed through with a roll, then blindly slashed at Indagos as he slid past. The two of them locked weapons and pushed against each other, their physical strength not dissimilar.

"Give… up!" Indagos hissed through gritted teeth, his glare powerful. Aelius refused to give in to the intimidation, though. All he could see in front of him was a petulant child that was in the throes of a hissy fit. "There is no possible way that you can come out of this situation for the better, even if you choose to run away again, I will chase you to the ends of the earth, just to make sure that you understand your place."

"I'm not running anymore," Aelius replied evenly. A tendril of his cloak whisked forwards and struck at Indagos. The other's coat reacted and fended off the strike. While the two of them duelled, another fight seemed to be happening between their garments. The auras of the weapons made manifest attacked each other with such an animosity that honestly left the bystanders more confused than anything else.

Aelius slowly found himself being pushed back by Indagos. He gritted his teeth and pushed forwards, but every strike that he made felt like it had the weight of the world pushing against it. A small glint entered his eye as Aelius recognised the purple glow that surrounded his weaponised fingers every time they came close to his opponent.

The two continued their fight. Indagos' triumphant grin became wider with every step that he fell backwards. Every movement caused Aelius to grow wearier and wearier, his breath became laboured as he felt his movements slow. He snarled as he saw the glow spread from his hands to the rest of his entire body.

It came to the point where Aelius wasn't even able to raise his arms anymore, and fell to his knees in front of Indagos. He looked up at the purple clad warrior from between the strands of his hair. His eyes were narrowed and his face was twisted in fury. Indagos just raised his sceptre and placed it against Aelius' chest.

A sudden disorientating feeling came over the dark Hunstman as he felt the gravity of his body suddenly switch. What was the floor suddenly became the wall and he swung out his clawed hand to grasp onto something, anything to prevent himself from-.

A small cloud of snow erupted as Aelius landed squarely into a snow drift. The purple glow had disappeared from around his body, but the obnoxious chuckle that echoed out from the station grated on his nerves more.

"You know, I actually thought you were a bit of a challenge at first," Indagos laughed. He walked out of the hangar and watched his sceptre as he twirled it in his hand. "But I've got to say that I'm disappointed. No one has managed to stand up to my abilities so far, and I really thought that you would have entertained me a little more." He snapped his hand closed on the sceptre and turned his attention forwards. A sudden chill went down his spine as he looked at the empty space where Aelius had been only moments before.

"And you're just as easy to trick and fool as you were before," Aelius called back from out of sight, "And I don't mean from when we've fought before. You realise that you're not the first person to fight against a bearer of Erelgen, right? Just like before, you always can't help yourself but to lord over your opponents. You might have the strongest ability out of the Smiths, but that doesn't mean you're above failure."

"Shut your mouth," Indagos shouted back and fired into the snow drift wildly. His shot detonated it in a showery cloud of snow that covered his vision. The purple clad warrior cursed inwardly at his recklessness. He waved his hand and the snow vanished from sight as it fell to the ground under the sudden pull of gravity.

A sudden foot came flying through the air and slammed into the side of Indagos' hastily raised block. The body that came attached to it continued its momentum, and slashed downwards across his face. Indagos growled as he felt the small cuts that had managed to get past his aura heal them rapidly, but still slower than what he was used to.

"Maybe I will, if you open your eyes," Aelius grinned down at him cheekily, then pushed away and landed back on his feet. He gave a small, mocking salute, then ducked back behind a different pile of snow. "You know, this fight went down a similar way with the last two, or did your Smith not tell you that?"

"She tells me what I need to know," Indagos roared and raised his pistol again. He hesitated at the last second. The purple clad man threw a dirty look at the last pile of snow that had been cast into the air. "Unlike you, I have trust in my compatriots, and they listen to me."

"Well, maybe if you had asked questions as well, you would have known that the 'Ruler of Gravity' has never won a single battle," Aelius' voice drifted out. Indagos' grip on the sceptre tightened, his fingers turned white from the pressure. "Sure, she was brilliant at taking down Grimm. There was nothing that could stand against her, literally. But against opponents who know how to strategize, be wily, and not play fair, she has no idea how to fight. The only power that she can understand is brute force."

"I know that you're trying to get me angry, make me start shooting," Indagos called out into the cold snow. His breath misted in front of his face. The young man just couldn't put a bead on Aelius' location. No matter where he thought the opponent was, his voice appeared from a completely different area the next moment. "I'm not like those others, I'm better than them, better than you!"

"No, you're not," Aelius said nonchalantly. His voice whispered out from behind Indagos. The purple clad man gave a start and whirled around, but he felt Aelius' hand on his throat too late. "See, taking a mass murdering spirit and stopping them from killing a single soul, that's different. Just layering generations upon generations of arrogance and complexes on top of each other, nothing about you is different from the last wielder of the sceptre, or the one before them, and so on and so forth."

Indagos choked and grasped at the claw around his neck. He winced as he felt the draining start. That was one thing that he had to commend the 'Empty Smith' for. The wielders had endurance. As long as they fought against someone with an aura, there was almost nothing that could stop them as they drained away as much damage as they took.

A glowing, purple hand grasped the front of Aelius' armour, and slowly began to spread across the both of their bodies. Aelius gritted his teeth as he felt it begin to be increasingly difficult to maintain his hold on Indagos. The two of them had separate directions of gravity, each pointed away from the other.

"Get away from me, you measly Huntsman," Indagos growled. Aelius' eyes flashed at the words, and for a moment his upbeat demeanour vanished in a fit of anger. "You have no idea what you're doing. Just like the rest of your kind, you fight your own personal little battles while the whole world is at stake."

"Thank you for reminding me about that, what really pisses me off about you," Aelius hissed. He could barely even speak with the effort that it took to maintain his grip. The embodiments of the spirits within their blades began to spar again, then tendrils of darkness of violet clashing. It was clear that the latter was weaker, though, the strikes were being batted away, and then tendrils were thinner, lighter. "You constantly insult Hunstman, belittle us, and look down on us. You truly have no idea what makes a Hunstman so strong.

"The reason I will win isn't because of the training that was given to me, it isn't because of the relationships that I have built up with my team, and it certainly isn't because of my gear. No, the reason I will win is because I have fought opponents, had my back against the wall and still come out on top. I will fight with everything at my disposal, tooth and nail, sand and rock. But you, you already believe that victory is at hand. How can you fight, when everything, including your fights, were all given to you? You sit behind an army of henchmen that will do anything for you. Meanwhile I had to sacrifice my entire life, for _this_."

Indagos slowly started to roar as the purple glow between them flared up to a brighter colour, then Aelius' grip broke and the both of them almost flew backwards with the amount of gravity that they had been subjected to. Large clouds of snow cascaded into the air from the impacts they left behind.

The two warriors clawed their way out of the craters they had left behind. They were visibly exhausted, barely able to breath, let alone fight. Still, they staggered towards each other. Aelius gave a cry as he raised his claw up high and leaped forwards. he landed short right in front of Indagos.

The second warrior pulled back his leg and kicked him away. Indagos followed up with a large, overhead strike with the sceptre. Aelius planted both of his feet on Indagos' chest and pushed him away before the other could land the blow. The dark Hunstman rolled backwards onto his feet and looked ahead as Indagos switched the sceptre into the pistol and aimed it directly at him.

"This is the true moment where we differ, though," Indagos chuckled. His vision seemed to blur as he directed his weapon. He blinked to try and clear away the weariness. "I brought more ammunition." And with that he fire the pistol. Aelius needn't have worried about much. The shot sailed wide, over his shoulder with a weaker boom as it struck the structure behind him. Indagos, on the other hand, was sent flying away from the recoil and skidded on his back.

Aelius gasped in a breath, then charged forwards. He ran on all fours, claws extended. Indagos scrambled to his feet and transformed his weapon back into the sceptre. The two of the looked each other in the eye with respect as they moved to settle the duel. Aelius jumped into the air, Indagos pushed forwards with his sceptre. The both of them struck ice.

Aelius crumpled against the sudden wall of ice that blocked his path to Indagos. He fell to the ground next to it in a heap and looked at the object with confusion at first, then resignation. Indagos, on the other hand, looked positively outraged at the sudden change on the battlefield. He looked over to the side, where a purely white garbed figure approached.

"You have no right to interrupt," he snarled. The woman looked back at him, unmoving. She continued past him and placed her hand against the ice wall, which shattered into a thousand pieces and caused the other two to cover their heads and cower from the debris.

"You embarked on a personal vendetta against another Smith, that is warrant enough for me to intervene," the woman told him matter of factly. Her tone was business like, cold. "As punishment for your action, you will have your current operations suspended and handed over to Ertha." The woman then turned to look at Aelius, who desperately tried to gather himself and get ready for another fight. "Congratulations, you managed to stop the continent from being destroyed, if I see you again, I'll kill you."

The sound of footsteps echoed out as Tuilen and Laure ran out of the hangar to defend Aelius. Tuilen saw the situation. His eyes widened as he dashed to crouch between his friend and the woman. She gave a small smile to the sight, then turned her attention back, not to Laure, but the structure itself. The woman had absolutely no interest in either of them.

"I will now inform your troops of the situation so that we will not incur any more difficulties with the nation of Atlas," she continued, and began to walk past the group. Indagos just stared at her in shocked silence. The outrage was all but gone, and the expression of a teenager who had had his toys taken away from him was left.

"Are you okay?" Laure demanded of Aelius as she reached him. He gave her a genuine smile and pushed himself up from the snow and into her embrace. The two remained still for what seemed like an age, but was truly only enough for Tuilen to move between the dark Huntsman and the 'Ruler of Gravity'.

"I'm fine, thank you," Aelius told her with a comforting smile. She could only blink as she looked back at the man that she had missed for almost a decade now who now reassured her, like old times. A warmth spread in her as the worry that she had held onto for so long disappeared and she hugged him again. She wasn't the only one that had noticed.

"Are you alright then?" Tuilen asked quietly. He gestured down to the claws. "I mean, are they still trying to, you know."

"No, we've managed to come to terms, at least for the moment," Aelius told him as he wrapped an arm around Laure. His hand gripped her shoulder tightly, and he struggled not to break down himself. A soft chuckle echoed over from the snow on which Indagos sat.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, and looked up at Aelius cruelly. The other gave him a dangerous look, but it seemed that the man had given up on any sense of tact, and talked only out of spite. "He will never be alright. What he has done has sealed his fate. Go on, Aelius, tell them what you did." The dark-haired man said nothing and continued his glare at Indagos. The man chuckled again, then continued, relentless. "He gave up his Aurau. I don't know how he managed to hold out for so long without doing it, I don't even know how he managed to keep it from the first time round, but he finally gave up on a normal life and stepped his toe out of your world, and jumped into ours."

"What does he mean?" Laure asked, she wormed her way out from under Aelius' arm and looked at him in concern. Aelius said nothing, his knuckles were white from being balled into fists. Now Indagos looked triumphant.

"It means, he can't give up the weapon and continue being a Huntsman," Indagos explained, almost gleefully. "He has no aura left, no soul in his body. Honestly, I've got to say that I'm impressed. Most 'bearers' would be thankful, to have been imprinted on at birth and not feel the agony that is giving your soul to an object, a being whose timespan is more than your own tenfold. But Aelius here managed to go through the process twice. That process leaves scars, most which I'm not even sure that he sees."

"Aelius, is this true?" Tuilen asked. He stepped forwards, and he looked at him impassively. Aelius could tell when he looked at him, though, that the man was furious, incredulous. He knew why. All the nights that the man had spent sleepless, desperate to find something, anything to help him, and in the man's eyes, he had just given up on everything.

"Yes," Aelius told him. Tuilen punched him straight in the jaw. Aelius' head snapped to the side from the impact. Blood slowly started to drip down from where his teeth had cut into his lip. It didn't heal. Tuilen backed up as the realisation of what happened sunk into him. It took Laure a few moments longer. "I'm sorry, but it was something that couldn't have been avoided. Only the work of a god could reverse the effects of these weapons. I tried to give you guys a hope, but I suppose I was just deceiving myself, desperately hoping for a way out of this mess."

"It doesn't matter," Laure said fiercely. She saw the look in his eyes. She had seen it before. Apologetic, grief-stricken. She knew what he was about to say before it had even entered his mind. "I won't let you back into that place. You are our friend, and whether you like it or not, we will be here with you, bugging you, frustration you, and we won't leave you to deal with this on your own."

"I almost hurt the both of you," Aelius whispered. He looked back at the both of them with a genuine sadness in his eyes. Now that the adrenaline of battle had started to fade, he found the other emotions that he had managed to momentarily push aside begin to rise to the surface. "I hurt Hayden. I don't even know what condition he's in, I couldn't do a thing to stop it."

"It wasn't your fault, it was that creature that did it," Laure defended Aelius. She turned to Tuilen, to try and get some sort of affirmation from him. His eyes were flat. Laure half expected this. At the mention of his brother being injured, Tuilen put his own family above everything, including himself. He would defend his brother to the last breath, no matter who the aggressor was. She turned back to Aelius, a new, colder look in her eye. "Aelius, I know what you're thinking, but don't you dare."

It was a look that she was all too familiar with. Burned into her brain from before, when none of them had ever known about the claws. The only mission that they had ever failed as proper Huntsmen. It was the look he had given them when he believed that he had failed in his duty as a leader, and their protector.

"It was my fault," Aelius told her. He moved to hug her again, but Laure moved out of his reach and just stared at him, her face barely able to contain the fury that bubbled within her. "I was the one who made the deal, I was the one that made the choice to let him into the world. I'm the one who needs to deal with the consequences, not you guys. I refuse to put you all in danger again, to let you get hurt because of my choices."

"I'm hurting now," Laure told him. One final chance for him to take, to go back on his decision. One final line back to her heart. Aelius looked at her and gritted his teeth. The words that he wanted to say, needed to say died in his throat. His heart throbbed painfully as he tried to figure out in that moment what the right decision to make was. He wanted to be with them, with her.

Hayden started awake and looked around at the devastation around him. The hangar that he had been in changed drastically, filled with people as wounded as him, if not more. The door to the hangar had been opened, and snow lazily drifted in on the wind. The red-haired man pushed himself up, only to find that he couldn't move. It might have been due to the pair of hands that held him down.

"You're hurt, idiot," Tuilen muttered. Hayden smirked at him and started to say a snide remark. He couldn't make out the words. Tears continued to fall down Tuilen's cheeks as he looked down at his fallen brother. "Unless you want to reopen your wounds, shut your mouth and sit still."

"Aelius-," Hayden started, but again, words failed him. This time it was more because even forming the word sent a wave of pain through his body. He gasped and fell back down obediently, but his demanding look continued. Tuilen couldn't meet his eyes. "Tuilen, what happened, is everyone okay?"

"You're not," Tuilen shot back. He sighed at the look that Hayden gave him and shook his head. "I'm angrier at myself than anyone at the moment. If I'd been there with you, we might have actually been able to do something, if all of us had been stronger, Aelius wouldn't have ever needed to have taken up those claws. We can keep pointing the fingers, but in the end, what happened happened."

"Tell me, what happened?"

"He left, again. We got him back for a moment, the old Aelius, and then he left. 'For our protection.'"

"No," Hayden muttered. He pushed himself up, past Tuilen's grasp and despite the pain that tore through his body. He gasped with every step as he made his way to the hangar entrance. His gait was crooked, his leg felt like it had been speared with a blade. Hayden heard the snow crunch under his feet and fell to his hands and knees, unable to walk any further.

Laure sat in the snow just outside of the entrance. Her hood was down and revealed her faunus, mousey ears. She rested her arms on her knees as she looked out into the distance. It didn't even appear as if she had registered her friend walk past.

Hayden let out a howl of frustration. It wasn't even the fact that he had lost his friend. At least the others had seen his old self before he disappeared. Hayden couldn't even put words to the emotion that he felt flow through him. He just missed his friend.


End file.
